Our Short Piece of Eternity
by gussiegal5
Summary: SEQUEL TO DUALITY. Now that they have gone through the veil many questions must be asked. Where are they? Who are those strange pointy eared creatures? Is the Joker here? And most importantly. Will they survive long enough to find out? Multiple X-overs.
1. Chapter 1

READ THIS: IF YOU HAVEN'T READ DUALITY THIS STORY WILL MAKE NO SENSE AND THAT'S NOT MY FAULT SO GO READ THAT FIRST.

I'm committing a terrible sin. I'm going to write a crossover with a series that I have never actually read. I know your wondering how I got out of reading or watching the Lord of the Rings books and movies and I didn't completely. But I've only seen the first movie once and I wasn't enthralled. So I'm going to start off with the basics of what I remember and then it's going to be very A/U from there. Sorry everyone.

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Chapter 1

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Crow's first waking thought was that he hoped he wasn't dead. Opening his eyes, Crow smiled, quite an improvement from his earlier depression even if he did say so himself.

Course now he had to figure out just where the hell he was and what was crawling across his hand.

Looking down Crow couldn't restrain a yelp as he saw the rather large insect on his hand.

Brushing it off of himself quickly he managed to get to his feet. Stumbling to regain his balance, Crow shook his head trying to remove the fog that seemed to be clouding his vision.

He sat down again very abruptly and with a discouraging _splat _he realized that he had either landed in a sudden eruption of mud or he had sat directly down onto the bug.

Rolling away from the spot that he had landed on twice now.

Yep, it was the bug.

His lip curled back in an unconscious _yuck _face.

Not really the best way to start his first day in a new world.

Shaking the buggy remnants off of his uniform, Crow looked around searching for a sign of any of his family.

Family?

He studied the thought silently for a moment, before shrugging it off as a simple truth and moved on.

He couldn't see any of the others anywhere near him, although he supposed that they could be in the forest that bordered the field which he had landed in.

Hopefully nobody had hit a branch as they came into the world. Although seeing a bug-eyed Batgirl would have given him material for at least a couple of jokes.

Standing once more Crow took his time, carefully allowing his body to accustom itself to the change in position.

Just as he finished regaining his feet, Crow's head jerked to the side as he heard what sounded like some sort of horn trumpeting a distress call.

He sighed, no rest for the wicked.

Following the horn, Crow broke into a trot when the sound abruptly cut off.

Any sounds that ended suddenly in his experience were never a good sign.

When he entered the tree line it took him barely a moment to climb up into a tree. All of the tree's stood close enough together that he was able to easily leap from branch to branch.

Measuring with his eyes, Crow was able to make his way unscathed towards the sounds of fighting which had taken over where the horn had cut off.

Looking into the clearing ahead of him, Crow was barely able to restrain his rage.

He could understand many things. At this point in his life very little phased him, but if there was one thing that made the teen see red it was attacking children.

Which was exactly what a group of rather ugly looking creatures was doing.

The creatures surrounded a man and a child both of whom were fighting hard. Although if the number of arrows was any indicators, the man defending the child didn't have much time left.

He had seen enough.

Crow launched himself out of the tree and directly onto the shoulders of the nearest monster. Batman may have frowned at killing, but that didn't mean that he couldn't disable the creature to the point that he would no longer be a threat to anybody.

You know a cracked skull, a broken spine nothing too serious.

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Boromir knew that he was done for. The number of arrows sticking out of his torso no longer seemed to hurt as his body began to go into shock. He was saddened that he would not be able to care for Frodo would even in a way be the cause of his death.

The first arrow entering his body had managed to lift the rings hold on him, and his mistake made his soul ache in a regret more painful then his wounds.

He had fought them as long as he physically could and just as Boromir hit the ground with his knee's he could only stare as a dark apparition seemed to appear on the back of the lead Orc.

He would have thought it simply a hallucination if he hadn't also heard the shrieks of terror from the rest of the Orcs as they saw their leader struck down by the stranger.

Although Boromir had to give them credit. None of them tried to run away even as their leader collapsed shrieking hoarsely and body strangely limp as if he had lost control of it.

Turning towards the remaining dozen or so Orcs the creature solidified into a human teenager with a demonic grin fixed on his face and the opaque lenses on his hood only added to the feeling of unreality that the clearing had for Boromir.

Unable to stay conscious any longer, Boromir's last sight as he went unconscious was to see the teen launch himself into the fray babbling excitedly in a language that he had never heard before.

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The only reason that Frodo hadn't fled while the Orc's were distracted was that he was far to worried about the human which had just collapsed limply in front of him. His wounds finally overcoming the adrenaline pumping through him

Frodo knew that he wasn't large enough to take on even the smallest of the Orc's which was definitely not the one that was coming directly towards him. All of the others were suitably distracted from him, purely because of the ass whipping they were currently receiving from one small boy in a costume.

Frodo moved from his position by the tree that he had been cowering against and stood in front of the fallen human even as the Orc bolted towards him. He had only a knife in his hand and Frodo was well aware that, that wouldn't be enough to take care of the nastily grinning creature in front of him.

Just as he settled himself into the closest thing to a ready position he knew, Frodo nearly leapt out of his skin when instead of attacking him the Orc went down directly under a man who wore an outfit similar to the one that the teen wore. Only he was bigger.

Much bigger.

Frodo's eyes nearly bugged out of his sockets as they took in the form in front of him.

With one hand wrapped firmly around the rapidly bluing Orc's throat, the man said something to the still fighting teen. Frodo wasn't sure what because the language was completely foreign to him although he didn't need to understand the words completely.

The teen gave what was obviously an exasperated affirmative, and the man laughed, a deep rumble that had the Orc in his hand scrabbling all the more desperately.

Just as Frodo had acclimated himself to the idea of the two strange men before him two more humans showed up.

Or rather down.

Both seemed to launch themselves from out of the tree's much as the first teen had. Each tackled an Orc seemed intent on beating their chosen prey bloody, every once in a while fending off other's with a blow or a powerful kick.

When the last of the monsters had finished moving even weakly. The tallest of the foursome flung his burden directly into the path of a waiting tree.

Which in the manner that all tree's do, stopped the windmilling Orc with a loud and disgusting _crunch_.

It took all of his restraint to not wince at the sound, although the other four weren't paying much attention to their fallen enemies.

All four of them turned to face both the fallen human and the trembling Hobbit who despite all of his upsets was still clinging tenaciously to his knife.

Frodo had to restrain himself from backing away, or simply bolting when he realized that all four of them were wearing masks. Masks that covered the top halves of their faces, giving their eyes an inhuman flatness where the opaque material covered them.

Even the brightly colored one seemed intimidating, the smile on his face was friendly but it seemed to loose some that friendliness when it took in the complete form of the Halfling.

Oh great. Thought Frodo. He recognized the darkening expressions on the strangers faces. They had thought that they were rescuing a child and now that they realized that he wasn't one things would change.

It wouldn't have been the first time that a Hobbit had been rescued by human's because they thought, the small creature was one of their young.

But all nurturing feelings for their young aside humans were disinclined to appreciate the fact that on purpose or not, they had been tricked.

The mental listing went from, innocent child, future of our species, directly to, not-human a direct threat to our species.

Frodo barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes. Humans were just plain weird.

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During the fight Crow had, been having a difficult time of it. There were more of the monsters then he had first thought.

Sure, he thought, I'm damn happy that both Robin and Batgirl would be willing to help me. But not Batman, all he did was ask, If I needed any bloody assistance.

The curse words I called him at that moment were only enforced by the sounds my fists made when they hit the ugly creepers directly in their noses.

When there was finally no more of the creatures left standing, all four turned towards the two helpless humans that were standing near Batman.

Or at least, Crow had to restrain himself from recoiling slightly. He thought that they had been humans.

There was no doubt in his mind that the man that lay limply on the ground was human and that if he wasn't dead yet it was by the grace of some higher being.

But the other creature, while certainly looking like a human child from a distance was on closer inspection not a member of the same species.

The beings large feet were covered in hair the same brown as that on his head and while he only came up to Batman's waist in height all of his limbs were perfectly in line with the rest of his body.

Oh well, Crow continued on stepping closer to the creature in front of him. It was hardly a crime to not be human.

Not altogether ignoring the blade that the small creature held in its hands, Crow edged closer to both of the strangers, trying to get a better look at the fallen mans injuries.

Seeing the mans chest fall up and down in shallow breaths, Crow was worried that any further delay might cut the man's life short.

"Batman, if you could grab, the little one, I think I have some potions that might be able to heal the man enough to at least allow him to live long enough for Raven to get a hold of him."

"No need."

Snape's deep voice coming from directly behind the odd pair, had Frodo practically leaping out of his skin as he tried to face all five of the strangers at once.

Taking advantage of the short creature's momentary startle. Batman managed to gently remove the knife from the halflings hand as well as pick him up in a gentle embrace that was nonetheless completely impossible for Frodo to escape or do any sort of damage from.

This seemed to remove the last of Frodo's inhibitions and he let loose a shriek that very nearly got him dropped. He continued to scream until a sudden practiced jiggle from the man holding him cut off his air flow momentarily.

Snape worked furiously, first removing the arrows as gently as possible from the fallen mans flesh before pouring a viscous fluid across the wound. This fluid caused the skin around the wound to his and bubble before reforming to cover the wounds as well as removing any chance of infection.

By this point, the Orc's had managed to drag themselves from the clearing and had disappeared into the trees.

It was upon this scene that the remaining members of the fellowship of the ring burst upon when they finally entered the clearing in search of their missing comrades.

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Aragorn was a man well used to combat. Over the course of his years he had seen many many things.

He had seen many tall, muscular men.

He had seen many short, slender men.

He had also seen his fair share of warrior women.

Men and women wearing skin tight body armor obviously not created from metal as well as masks which covered the eyes as well as the noses.

That was a new one.

Judging by the gaping maws of his companions he was not alone. Pointing at the three

When he saw a differently dressed man stand up from his position directly over the fallen form of Boromir, and Frodo clasped in an unflinching grasp of the tallest of the group.

Aragorn was unwilling to give the strangers the benefit of the doubt and sprung from the bushes. He watched Gimli and Legolas head towards the man standing over Boromir, so he charged directly towards the giant holding Frodo.

The three smaller masked strangers separated. Aragorn watched the brightly colored young man and the woman head towards the giant to back him up, while the teenager headed towards the only unmasked person in their group.

But before any blows could be exchanged, the giant let loose a roar that stopped all of them in their tracks.

Before Aragon could resume his attack, he was shocked at what happened next.

The giant of a man gently placed an unharmed Frodo on the ground, while Boromir managed to regain his feet with blood covering his clothing but no apparent wounds.

A single sharp jerk of his head had the other four members of his group heading towards him. They all went out of their way to not brush against any of the newcomers, as well as stay out of range of both arrows and swords.

It was only when they all came to stand side by side that Aragorn realized that none of them had any visible weapons on them.

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Batman's sharp, "STOP!!" Had all four of the humans jerking to a stop as fast as possible.

Lord of the Dark he may have been, but Crow was by no means unwilling to listen to reason. Especially when it came to Bruce and Snape.

Robin and Batgirl were also more then willing to halt their attack. They were already exhausted from their flight through the Archway and weren't looking forward to pounding on any more flesh.

Snape of course had required a sharp twist of Crow's head to halt his advance. He was not willing to allow any harm to come to either his master or his master's lover. Not that they usually needed any sort of protection beyond what they could do for themselves.

Crow's questioning glance cleared with understanding as soon as Batman released the small creature from his arms and the human that Snape had no doubt saved the life of regained his feet with a minimal amount of effort on his part.

As the groups gathered together, each visually checked the condition of their compatriots as well as searching for any wounds on themselves that may have gone unnoticed in the course of the fight.

That is until the blonde that Snape had saved began to rapidly jabber something at the dark headed leader of the opposite group. Judging by the dawning fear on their faces they weren't used to a magic that could heal a wound in minutes.

Snape watching the group impassively quietly remarked to Crow. "That man is likely to collapse soon. I may have been able to quicken the healing process but he is more then likely going to drop soon from the tremendous amount of energy he lost."

"Well then," questioned Crow, "how is he standing now if he's so exhausted."

"Adrenaline, no doubt." said Robin, " I've run around with gaping wounds that I haven't noticed before all of the excitement was over."

Even as they spoke the dark haired leader had to grab hold of the blonde as his knee's loosened and he began a steady collapse to the ground.

With most of the others paying attention to the once again fallen man, Batman lead his group away. Or at least he attempted to.

They hadn't reached the treeline when in arrow flitted past their heads and lodged itself deeply into a tree just above their heads.

Their responses showed more of their personality then they perhaps would have wished for the strangers to know.

Robin and Batgirl, leapt directly into nearby tree limbs. Both pulled batarangs, and waited for either further commands from Batman, or further action from their assailants.

Snape slid behind the same tree and pulled his wand out of his pocket although he was careful to restrain himself from sending any curses their way. He wasn't going to give himself away even if he had been shot at.

Batman grabbed Crow to his chest and seemed to disappear from the clearing and reappeared in a different tree.

When Crow felt the familiar arm across his chest he had relaxed himself enough to be easy to carry without being a dead weight.

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The clearing had emptied of the strangely dressed group so quickly that even Legolas who had let the arrow fly lost track of them for a moment.

Aragorn's eyes narrowed as he saw just where each member of the group had ended up.

It took him nearly a minute before he gave up on finding the giant or the smallest member of the group. But he did see the other three.

Or at least he did for a moment.

Seeing that the group had stopped their attack at the abruptness of his families disappearing act, Batman released Crow with an almost apologetic gleam in his eyes, which Crow responded to with a small smile.

Apology given and excepted.

Batman had not moved any further away from the clearing then the rest of the others, but merging with shadows while in the company of the Lord of Dark was a much easier task then without.

Not that he was planning on getting used to the assistance or anything.

Crow's expression turned sly for a moment, and he seemed to disappear from Batman's arms and flitted up a nearby tree. Although he was helpful enough to leave a shadow behind to hide his already well hidden lover.

His smile changed into a small frown. It seemed as time progressed he seemed to be getting more and more powers, and using them instinctively as well. Something to think about when they weren't surrounded by men with swords and arrows.

Although at this moment Crow desperately wished that he had been able to drink Severus's potion before they had been sent to this strange world. Magic couldn't cure all evil's but it could help in situations such as this.

Crow desperately tried to think of a way to stop the stalemate that they were in.

At the moment nothing was coming to him.

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Here she be folks. The first chapter to the sequel of Duality, hope everybody likes it enough so that they don't throw any rotten vegetables my way because of the tremendously long wait which I most sincerely apoligize for. Whoa run on sentence much. Anywho, love all my reviewers and hope to hear from you soon.

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	2. Chapter 2

Hey ya'll...it's been a while since I've updated I admit it, but to be honest fanfiction has been the least of my responsibilities.

Between college and work I've been running around like mad all day and practically dropping into bed when I can finally go to sleep.

So it's probably going to continue like this until a) I get accustomed to my new schedule or b) my workload is decreased. I'm kind of hoping for the latter. So anyway's enough about my life, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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CHAPTER 2

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Although he was unwilling to admit it, Harry was beginning to lose confidence in his ability to get out of the stalemate that had been going on for nearly five minutes.

None of the strangers appeared to be of any immediate threat but that could soon change, it was only a matter of time before somebody lost patience.

These strangers might have swords and arrows, but the bats and the birds were equipped with magic and technology the outcome was obvious but the probability that his family remained unscathed was almost nil.

Unless, Batgirl managed to control herself long enough for Snape to perform a linguistics spell it was unlikely that all of the people in the stand off would survive.

Just as he was certain that the young woman wouldn't be able to control herself any longer, Snape wand whipped out into a complex pattern which managed to simultaneously knock out the entire group in front of them.

Or at least it was supposed to.

Most of them dropped immediately, unconscious before they hit the ground. But it seemed that the four child sized, creatures in front of them were at least partially immune to the magic.

Although none of them seemed confident in their ability to wield the weapons that they had, all of them looked ready to fight.

Harry had trouble restraining a snort of laughter as the pudgiest of the lot, dropped the knife that he was carrying and somehow managed to grab a pot from his pack.

Harry had been threatened with quite a few weapons over his lifetime. He'd seen swords, wands, gigantic snakes, but this was the first time that he had ever been threatened with a pot.

Although he seemed to vaguely remember his aunt threatening to spank him with a spatula at one point when he was younger.

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Frodo was well aware that he had been rescued from harm by the strangers in front of him. He may have been naive in some ways but he was also well aware that the group of warriors in front of him had simply wanted to avoid a confrontation.

The only reason that they had halted their progress into the forest was because of Legolas's itchy bow finger.

When all but the Hobbit's fell to the ground unconscious, Frodo didn't question the fact. Hobbit's rarely did. Things simply were as they were, and everything must be dealt with on the premise that if it happened it was possible.

His friends seemed unharmed, their breathing regular and deep, and they had started it.

Straightening his shoulders, Frodo said, "Merry, Pippin, Sam, put away your weapons."

He silenced the protests with a look and the other three slowly backed down.

"They rescued Boromir and I. The robed one saved Boromir's life."

All four hobbit's jumped when the one Frodo was speaking about spoke.

"We, only wanted to help."

Frodo had been so focused on calming his friends that he had failed to see the wand wave that had allowed Snape to at least partially understand what they were saying.

So although his voice was heavily accented and he spoke slowly to make sure that he was understood, Snape's words were still barely understandable to the Hobbit's.

Seeing that he had been heard, the robed one turned towards one of the dark shadow's lurking in the branches and spoke rapidly to it in a language none of the Hobbit's had heard before.

Frodo listened in fascination to the man in front of him. The language seemed melodic at some points, rapid fire and clipped at others.

The largest of the shadows separated itself from the tree's and stepped into the light. He Seemed almost uncomfortable in the cold light of day.

Frodo barely restrained a gasp as he got his first stationary look at the man in front of them. The opaque eyes stared blankly at him from a mask which seemed to resemble some sort of animal.

The mouth below the mask was a stern line, he seemed to be the leader of the group if the almost deferential nod from the robed one was any sort of indication.

Hesitating for only a moment, Frodo walked up to the gigantic man and bowed to him.

"I thank you and yours for your assistance and apologize deeply for my friends reactions."

The masked head tilted to the side, and a questioning sound was made towards the robed one, who replied seeming to translate the Hobbit's words.

Turning back to Frodo the man smiled slightly and then gave a brisk nod of acknowledgement.

When it seemed to man was about to turn to leave he was halted by a soft voice coming from the tree branch above him.

Almost seeming to flow down from the tree, Frodo was surprised at the difference in height. The younger seemed almost elfin in comparison to the leader.

The facial feature's not hidden by his own mask were sharp, his hair wildly tousled and becoming more unruly by the minute as a wind sprang up seemingly for the sole purpose of further rumpling the shock of pitch black hair.

Neither of the pair seemed to notice the difference they spoke heatedly for a moment before the larger one seemed to back down.

If Frodo had glanced at the other two human's still in the tree he would have noted both their expressions of shock as well as a dawning hatred on the face of the female.

While he might not have Sam used to trying to follow his friends rolling emotions had seen the entire byplay, apparently their had been a shift in leadership recently and the other two costumed creatures were unsure as to how they felt about it.

The robed one had immediately backed down at the larger ones voice, but he seemed to almost bow towards the youngest member of the group, listening intently to the teen's point of view.

Either the boy was of some sort of noble blood, or he was more then he appeared, Sam was betting on a mixture of the two.

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Harry was unwilling to leave his darkened perch, but he was certain that while Batman would continue making most of the decisions for the group, but the decision to leave the group of unconscious warriors behind was a bad one.

The small creatures which seemed immune to the magic were obviously unable to defend themselves against the unknown creatures of the woods.

As Severus had affectively taken away all of the protection that they had, it was their duty to ensure that no harm came to any of the helpless beings.

Harry had a fleeting wish that Severus had used a less intricate spell.

Severus was despite his or perhaps because of his speciality in potions a very competent and detail oriented wizard. While he could never overpower, Harry, or even Dumbledore simply by the force of his magic, that was hardly necessary.

His talents lay in the way in which he used the power that he had. The warriors would be unconscious for quite some time, because he had used a lesser known sleep spell on them, one which would take a good three hours to wear off.

By the time they did wake up, it would be dark out so they might as well make camp in this clearing.

Bruce disagreed, or Crow thought wryly, rather The Batman (the dark and powerful yet ever so gloomy figure) disagreed with him.

"I see no reason why we should feel responsible for a band of creatures who attacked us."

"They thought we had injured their friends."

"Despite evidence to the contrary."

"What evidence, the blonde collapsed after he said only a couple of words, and the little one didn't say a word until after all of his protectors were unconscious."

"This clearing was already the place of one attack by...those creatures if they were to come back and try again with reinforcements we would be both outnumbered and unable to properly defend ourselves in this space."

"So Severus put's together a few simple wards and I adjust the shadows in such a way that we'll know well in advance when anything larger then a rabbit crosses over them."

A grumpy grunt was his only response and he took it as his single true victory of the day.

Wasn't he a winner.

A jerk of Batman's head had both Batgirl and Robin moving to gather wood and pine boughs for a fire and for beds.

Snape slipped away to begin the project of creating a the temporary wards that would hopefully make anything nasty not want to come into the clearing.

Batman pulled a lighter and a bit of tinder out of one of his many pouches and headed towards a corner of the clearing which would allow heat to reflect back off of both the tree's and the shrubbery so that everyone would be at least comfortable if it cooled down during the night.

Crow began to easily pull the much heavier dead weight of the strangers across the forest floor, he tried to avoid and sticks or sharp stones and attempted to keep from rapping their heads on any other sort of clutter.

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Frodo watched in amazement as part of the open area was turned into a comfortable looking camp, big enough for both groups to sleep in without getting in each others way.

Hesitantly he moved towards the fire that the big man had quickly set up, seeming to use only his hands to set the dry branches on fire quickly.

He heard slight rustling noises behind him and new that Merry, Pippin, and Sam were on his heels unwilling to take the lead when it came to interacting with these strangers.

Frodo's choice to carry the ring had already changed him, the pull that he fought on a daily basis along with a lengthy journey had brought about hidden depth's not often found in a halfling.

Where other hobbits were trusting and always willing to help strangers, Frodo's experiences had if not hardened his heart, at least made him more cautious.

What he didn't know could hurt both him and his friends, although the language barrier was likely to cause some problems, at least one of them seemed to understand the language that they were speaking, although his words seemed to be more a rough approximation than any true claim to fluency.

All of the strangers seemed to work seamlessly around each other as they finished the preparations for the campsite. It had taken the strangers only an hour to finish.

As they gathered around the fire, Frodo saw that the biggest of them had given the brightly colored younger what looked like a small bar of sticky grain and with a jerk of his head sent the man out into the woods. Presumably to keep watch while the rest of them ate.

Frodo finally inched into the fire light when he saw that the four remaining members of the group had settled down and begun to eat. None of them seemed, to have any sort of fresh food, but a mixed variety of dried fruits, meat, and grain.

None of it looked to be the least bit palatable.

Frodo heard a grumble behind him, and had to fight to repress a smile. 3...2...1.

Sam bustled passed Frodo ignoring the sudden tension that the strangers created when they saw him head towards the fire.

All them relaxed minutely when Sam pulled out his assortment of pans, and Frodo noticed a fleeting smile on the remaining male teenager as he watched the hobbit bounce around the fire creating a savory kind of mash that had become a favorite of both the vegetarians and the meat lovers in their group.

Frodo nearly leapt out of his skin when an object unrecognizable in the dark was thrown from a nearby tree. He was barely able to see the shadow of the brightly colored youth before he once more disappeared into the forest.

The object was caught easily by the large leader of the group, he hadn't even bothered to turn around to catch it. Once it stopped moving Frodo was able to see the limp body of a tree squirrel, which was quickly skinned and spitted by the leader.

Once everything had been cooked to as close to perfection as a campfire could make it, Frodo was pleased to see that the strangers willngly put away their own food and accepted the strange fare easily, if a bit cautiously.

An easy silence fell over the camp, only broken by the return of the brightly colored teen this time empty handed who was given some of the mash.

He wondered when his friends were going to wake up. Their reaction was sure to be...

Entertaining.

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Here it is. Eight pages, shorter then some of my previous chapters but all that you can expect to get at the moment. I'm sorry. I hope it wasn't fragmented, it's hard for me to switch point of views like that, but I felt like I needed to show both sides of what was going on. I hope people like my characterization of Frodo. Now...I have to RUN to my next class.

Bye Bye

Gussiegal5


	3. Chapter 3

Well...chapter three. Go me. I'm sorry I haven't been updating lately but aside from my godawful college schedule.

I've been knock down drag out, I really wanna die sick. I wasn't really willing to write anything while I was drugged up on FOUR count'em FOUR different medications. My brain felt like it was spinning around in my skull.

Ugh I don't even want to think about it anymore, needless to say I'm mostly better and willing to set some time aside to write.

I hope this chapter was worth your wait.

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When Aragorn opened his eyes for the first time, he was surprised at how much pain he wasn't in. Judging by the darkened sky he was facing, he must have been unconscious for at least a couple of hours.

In his experience, if one was knocked unconscious for that long, then they would wake up with a concussion and a massive headache. He had neither.

His view of the sky was cut off when a darkened shadow loomed over him. Reaching for a sword that wasn't there, Aragorn lunged at the figure, knocking the person tumbling with him on top.

The slight body he was wrestling with startled him with its strength, easily keeping him contained. A growled voice, spoke an abrupt sentence and the body he had been struggling with backed off and solidified into the image of a furiously scowling young woman.

Having regained his feet with ease, Aragorn studied the situation he was in. It seemed he was the first of his compatriots to regain consciousness, although the hobbits appeared to be asleep rather than knocked out.

Merry and Pippin were curled around each other as was their usual habit, and Frodo and Sam lay near each other, shoulders and arms brushing every now and then.

The strangers were around the fire, although any languidness had disappeared as he jumped to his feet. When the brightly colored teen burbled out a laugh and said something to the still angry female in a mocking tone which turned her scowl into a snarl as she stalked into the tree's.

Looking at the remaining four with suspicion, Aragorn saw the still chuckling youth languidly reclining on a low hanging tree branch, he seemed perfectly comfortable with the precarious position.

The robed one had a slight smile on his face, bringing his harshly structured features into focus. A nose often broken and slightly to large for his face protruded like a beak and dark eyes glittered from out of the shadows, he sat cross legged, his spine rigid.

The largest of the group seemed to shrink away from the firelight, his big body almost invisible in his clothing and the darkness of the small mooned night.

The smallest male of the group sat between him and the fire, seemed to both bask in the flames warmth and protectively cover his elder in shadows.

Neither of them wore visible expressions on their face, though Aragorn thought that he might have seen a glimmer of amusement from the smaller male, before he settled back into stoicism once more.

His eye's skimming over the shadowy clearing Aragon was able to make out his sword, carefully laid with all of his companions weapons, right next to the robed man.

The man who had said something to him that he had missed because of his preoccupation.

"What?"

"Be at ease, we have no intention of harming any of you."

It took Aragon nearly thirty seconds to wade his way through the thickly accented words. All of the emphasis seemed to be on all of the wrong syllables.

"Our weapons?"

"We also have no intention of allowing you to harm any of us."

The new voice had him jerking his head toward the shadowed figure of their leader.

But the light tenor was spoken by the small teen, his words weren't as hard to understand but he spoke with the same odd rhythm.

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Harry had a hard time stopping himself from snickering as Batgirl was forced to halt her attack on the awakening stranger.

The man's reaction was understandable. He had woken up hours after being unceremoniously knocked unconscious to a night sky and a stranger looming menacingly over him.

He had let Snape perform the spell on him which would allow him to at least begin to understand the language.

The spell gave a very basic understanding to the person it was cast on and then allowed the mind to quickly assimilate the languages quirks and idiosyncrasies.

The man was on his feet although he still seemed slightly shaky, his movements uncoordinated and sluggish.

Making Batgirl's near defeat even funnier in Harry's opinion.

Jerking his attention back to the rough looking man, he saw the strangers eyes dart towards the pile of weaponry which they had stripped off of the limp bodies of the other group.

"We won't hurt you." Snape's words were spoken slowly in the strange language.

"What?" The man startled at the unexpected words.

"Be at ease, we have no intention of harming any of you."

"Our weapons?"

Harry answered that one not trusting Snape to keep his formidable temper in check. Although the man had been unusually good tempered the last couple of months.

"We also have no intention of allowing you to harm any of us." The words felt thick on his tongue but he managed to spit them out legibly.

"What is your name?"

The man's gaze was distrustful as he studied the much smaller male. Harry easily allowed the searching gaze although he managed to shift his weight to the side enough that Bruce was further obscured by the shadows that he seemed to prefer.

"Aragorn, and yours?"

"Harry."

The man gave a stiff nod which Harry returned, trying to think of some way that could allow the man to relax while the rest of his compatriots woke up.

"Would you like some food? Your friend Sam made some sort of _porridge."_

Aragorn cocked his head at the unfamiliar word. "What is pordge?"

"Porridge...its." Harry searched his mind for the proper word but it seemed the lingual spell had failed to consider breakfast conversation when it had been created.

"Here." Harry shoved a bowl of the concoction that the small creature had made for them.

"Thank you for the mush." Aragorn was by now quite certain that only the two men that he had spoken to thus far had even a basic grasp of the language.

While he had been speaking to the youngest member of the strange group, the robed man had been quietly murmuring in a strange language which both the dark man and the brightly colored teen listened to intently.

He had thought the language was known by the entirety of MIddle Earth; with the exception of perhaps some of the younger elves.

Harry nodded in thanks at the word supplied to him.

"Thank you."

Aragorn studied the food for a moment before seemingly content that he wouldn't be poisoned began to swiftly wolf down the bowl of food. He hadn't eaten since that morning and he was more than a little bit hungry.

Seeing the last of the delicious new meal disappear down Aragorn's throat, Harry casually slid a chunk of jerky over to the other man who stared at the alien food for a moment before giving a polite shake of his head to decline the offered addition to his meal.

Harry shrugged before pulling it back, easily shoving it back into a pocket which blended in seamlessly with the rest of his outfit.

Feeling comfortably full, Aragorn allowed himself to settle into an easy crouch. Without a variety of weapons aimed at them the strange group in front of him was noticeably less hostile.

Couldn't really blame them, he wouldn't have been happy to have an arrow shot directly at him or his friends even if it was only in warning.

Although he had a multitude of questions, Aragorn began to feel a weariness dragging at his eyelids. He may have been unconscious but that differed quite a bit from restful sleep and his mind had only awakened when it did because of the strength of his unconscious mind fighting against the spell.

Looking over at his still unconscious compatriots he was surprised to see that they had gone directly from unconscious to asleep without waking and all were comfortably sprawled on the ground and covered with their own blankets.

A soft sound brought his head around in a sharp turn as Harry got to his feet and dragged a pack that Aragorn recognized as his own towards him, before returning to his place at the feet of the still silent leader.

"Rest, we will answer what questions we can in the morning."

The only reason that Aragorn finally allowed himself to relax into the blanket he had pulled from the bag was the sight of the large man reaching forward slightly to rumple the youth's hair slightly in a friendly gesture.

Until then the youth had been composed even in his humor but the simple play brought a sparkling smile his face and the eyes peering out from the mask shone even in the darkness.

In his experience, evil people took themselves far to seriously, he had yet to see Orc laugh from simple amusement.

Maybe they could be trusted although he desperately wanted to know how they entire group had been knocked unconscious simultaneously.

Finally losing control of his eyelids Aragorn slipped easily into sleep his whole body seeming to relax at once.

Robin nodded at Batman and Crow before climbing up to a wider branch of the tree he had been lounging in all evening. He had always been more comfortable up in the air than on the ground.

Batgirl slunk back from the shadows she had been sulking in before curling herself in a tight ball in the tree roots of the same tree Robin was in, her cloak wrapped around her kept the worst of the night air out and gave her at least a slight sense of protection from the elements.

Batman barely restrained a chuckle seeing the small black lump that Batgirl had become only the tips of the bat ears were visible from under the cloak.

Leaning back against the fallen tree branch which was reflecting the fire's heat nicely Batman gave a slight start of surprise when Crow hesitantly slipped over to his side.

When his movement was only met with a gentle smile, Harry gently returned it before curling up himself, his head nestled near Batman's thigh without ever quite touching.

Batman brought one of his hands over to the youth's head and began to gently stroke the hair he had earlier mussed.

Snape watched masking his sadness as everyone in both his group and the other formed a pair. Turning his eyes about the clearing Snape stood with a sigh and headed towards a darkened corner of the clearing.

He had seen a soft padding of moss in that area, it would help keep the ground pitted with rocks and sticks from jabbing him and his robes would keep out the dampness that the moss would no doubt have hidden in its depths.

Allowing his body to relax for the first time that night, Snape easily slipped into a trance as his mind went over the memories that he had unerringly lifted from Aragorn.

He had easily stayed away from anything of a personal nature and focused primarily on the pieces which would allow him to learn the language.

Snape would then be able to give these snippets of memories to Harry who wasn't able to use Occulemency no matter how powerful he was in other ways.

He would have to give the boy the potion soon although it still needed at least a couple of more days in the bottle to reach its maximum potency.

Speaking of which Snape smiled slowly as he heard a high pitched squeak come from one of the nearby trees. It seemed his new friend wasn't going to let him spend the night alone.

Hanging upside down on a branch nearly directly over his head the bat squeaked a quiet greeting around his mouthful of food.

The large bat held the mangled body of some sort of small bird in one of it's clawed hands which he held up to his mouth awkwardly, still figuring out how to use his suddenly much larger body.

Although it seemed the potion had given him a few new instincts to help him on his way as he had easily searched out the sleeping bird he was currently eating.

Offering some to the man underneath him, the bat was pleased to smell the scent of loneliness edge away from his pet as the man gave a gentle shake of his head.

"Oh no. I believe that I have had quite enough food tonight but thank you for the offer."

Snape snuggled into the moss which was just as soft as he had hoped and easily slipped into sleep to the soothing sound of his friend hanging above him.

The bat shrugged its still slender shoulders as it continued to munch through the bird carefully keeping any blood from spattering on the now still form below him.

After all it was hardly his fault that humans had no tastebuds.

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A/N

Read and Review

As always I hope everyone enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it.

TTFN

Gussiegal5


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys, I'm on spring break so I was able to drag up the energy to update. I had a completely different chapter started and I absolutely hated it. Then I was right in the middle of dinner and nearly choked on my pizza when I realized what I wanted to do next. Not really a strange occurrence, I'm amazed I haven't choked to death yet (grins).

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Crow had only been asleep for about a half an hour when his conscious (unconscious?) was ripped from the rather pleasant dream he had been participating in... enthusiastically.

At least Fate had the decency to reform him in clothes, standing in front of the most powerful female ever in the nude would have been just a bit embarrassing.

Looking down at himself Crow saw that he was wearing a silvery grey robe a single dagger strapped to his side.

Looking up at the woman in front of him curiously, Crow studied the closest think that he had ever believed to be a true deity.

On either side of the woman were two men, one dressed in black, he was armed with a sword which shimmered with power even when sheathed.

The other was clothed in white, armed with a large bow and a quiver of arrows on his back. Both had hoods pulled over their heads obscuring their faces from sight.

The scene was intimidating, but to Crow it seemed incomplete somehow.

His body reacted to some vaguely felt instinct. Stepping towards the woman, Crow fell to one knee his head lowered in a submission that he had never shown to a living person.

"Oh do stand Mister Potter, I would not ask a man of your pride to subject yourself to anyone. Even me."

Although he regained his feet, Crow could not stop his head from bending deferentially towards her, and he refused to meet her eyes.

"I'm sure you are wondering why I did not pass the information I am about to give you through your Steward. He was understandably becoming irritated at the intrusion on his mind and body, although that is only partially the reason."

"What is the rest of the reason, Mistress Fate?"

"She absolutely refuses to write any more poetry."

The voice was a low tenor, and it came from the figure in white.

"Hush, Robin... the lad doesn't need to know everything just yet." Fate's words were playfully scolding instead of truly angry.

Eying the two men understanding dawned on Crows face as he placed both of the mens weapons.

"Robin...of Locksley? And let me guess Arthur Pendragon?"

Fate laughed and Crow turned his gaze to face her once more and looked at her closely for the first time. She was not what he was expecting. Both men towered over her short frame, she was probably less than 5" 5' and was dressed comfortably in a loose dress which did nothing to hide her slightly rounded frame.

Very dark blonde hair was cropped short with a single lock grown so that it covered one of her bright blue eyes. A glitter brought Crow's eyes into focus on her ears which were studded with earrings.

Although the earrings seemed to be the only form of enhancement on the very average looking woman a noticeable amount of power seemed to trail after her.

Fate's smile was broad and her eyes glittered with good humor.

"Smart lad, but as you are about to rudely awakened in a matter of minutes I need to give you the information quickly."

"Very well Mistress."

"You will only remain in Middle Earth for another day, and then I will send you on to your next destination."

"Why, what is our reason for being sent there in the first place?"

"If you had not come upon the group, the human that your Stewards saved would have died. I cannot allow him or you to stay in Middle Earth."

"Where are we going next?"

"You and your group have been sent on a quest of your own. This quest will give you the skills and the allies needed to face an unexpected foe once you are returned to your own world. To have even a chance of winning you will need to have Boromir with you."

"You haven't answered my question."

"No, I haven't because I cannot, all I can say is that in each world you will perform a good deed which will help both you and them."

"How many worlds are we going to have to go to?"

"As many as is necessary, to face the foe."

"What foe? And where is the Joker?"

"The Joker is no longer your concern. I have placed him in a world which he will be able to be what he is supposed to be without interference. Good bye Harry, once your life has run its full circle I will expect you to once more guard me."

"Black and white and grey?"

Fate grinned and in a faux whisper said, "Don't let them know I said this but grey has always been my favorite color."

The man in black muttered, "She never needed to tell us, you take your time getting back lad, she's so much easier to deal with when she doesn't have you backing her up."

Reaching into her pocket, Fate pulled out a small amulet which she laid over Harry's head.

"I will speak to Boromir, he will understand that he needs to stay with your group. He may be a bit abrasive at first but I'm sure that your Steward can outsnark him."

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Jolting awake Crow had to shake his head at the very odd conversation. Batman had felt the younger man wake up and he looked down at his love.

Determined eyes glinted back up at him. Harry hesitantly raised his head and pressing his lips gently to Bruce's he tried to shove the conversation from his memory into Bruce's.

Judging by the sudden snap of tension into the large body Harry figured he had at least given the man the gist of what had happened to him.

"Funny, I thought she'd be taller."

Batman's voice was so dead pan that it took a moment for Harry to realize what he had said. Snorting with laughter Harry regained his feet and walked over to Raven's curled up form, Batman headed over to the suddenly alert forms of his first two proteges.

A brief conversation had them on their feet and in unconscious parade rest before their leader.

Only previous dealings with both magic and the supernatural kept the pair from gaping at the information that Batman was giving them.

Crow simply touched his forehead to Raven's and allowed the memory to seep into the other mans consciousness.

A sharp gasp brought all six heads (Bat had been awakened along with his pet.) around to face the suddenly awake Boromir.

Whatever Fate had said to him seemed to have made an impression. Even though his feet dragged reluctantly, Boromir walked over to Crow and gave a sharp nod.

Speaking in halting english he said, "I give you my loyalty Lord of the Dark." Turning to Snape he gave another nod, "And I give the saviour of my life, my respect and my blade."

Harry and Snape both gave brief nods of acknowledgement before returning to a conversation which the entire group had a hard time deciphering.

"A rock would work perfectly well."

"Forgive me for disagreeing my Lord, but a small animal would hold the form longer than an inanimate object."

"I refuse to kill an innocent creature simply to create a more realistic simulacrum, his funeral pyre will take place very quickly."

"But, my Lord, the dawn has a habit of disrupting weaker spells. And if I am right in assuming that we are trying to leave as quickly as possible then we will have to do so before mornings first light."

Boromir nearly leapt out of his skin when the largest bat he had ever seen came to perch awkwardly on the shoulder of the taller hook nosed man.

The bat had to lean on his rides head because one of his clawed feet held the remains of the bird corpse that he had mostly eaten the night before.

A compromise if either man had ever seen one.

"Am I right in assuming Bat that you are offering your prey up as the victim of my spell?" Asked its rider softly.

Giving a chirp of consent the large mammal dropped the disgusting remains into the robed mans hands. Boromir was impressed when the man didn't even flinch when the desiccated little body hit his palm.

Quickly the rest of the group began to gather their supplies removing all traces of their presence from the camp site. Weapons were placed into the scabbards of their owners, while Snape completed and shrouded the body of the bloody simulacrum with Boromirs blanket.

Snape moved through the group, briefly reaching into their minds and removing all memory of the strange group, replacing it with the _death_ of Boromir.

When they awoke to the dawn, the group would sadly place their friend on the boat and set fire to it with a flaming arrow.

Crow silently padded over to Frodo careful to not awaken any of the sleeping hero's.

Kneeling at the halflings shoulder Crow rested a gentle hand to the small creatures forehead.

**"Frodo, know this to be true, your quest will not be easy but you let this knowledge fill you with the confidence that you need. You will win. There is no other option, no other truth. Keep your faith little one and someday you will join all of those that you have lost and will lose. And they will rejoice with you for eternity."**

Boromir smiled as the words seemed to calm the restlessly sleeping Hobbit.

He would be say to leave his friends, but perhaps he had some new comrades. Glancing once more at the man who had saved his life, Boromir couldn't stop himself from studying the stranger.

Long limbed and lean, Raven didn't have the physical strength that he was used to seeing in warriors, Fates words to him nevertheless left him without a doubt on the entire groups individual and combined skills.

Fate seemed determined to focus on Raven when she was speaking to Boromir. Telling him that the man would "...become a strong ally and partner in the future..."

He would be certain to get to know the sallow faced man in front of him. Aside from what Fate had said to him, Boromir could see the loneliness that seemed to encompass the other man. The rest of the group seemed to be partnered up to an extent, and although they clearly respected Raven, he still seemed to be partially excluded.

Well, not anymore.

Snape stared at Boromir suspiciously for a moment when the other man scooted closer to him, but he managed to relax when the man didn't say anything.

He despised mindless prattling, and after all what was there really to say. Fate seemed to have said it all.

As the group finished all of the tasks needed to be done a split seemed to occur in mid air directly in front of the group. It widened enough that they were able to comfortably step into the gap.

None of them were expecting what they would find on the other side of the portal.

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When Frodo woke the next morning he was filled with sadness at the death of Boromir and something else.

A strange sort of confidence seemed to fill him for some reason. He had begun to lose hope over the course of his travels. After all what could one small Hobbit do. But, Frodo realized, he wasn't just one small Hobbit, he had entire races backing him.

How could he lose?

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That was so much fun to write. Hope everyone likes it.

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	5. Chapter 5

AAAAAAAAAAAARGH No More LATIN... Heh sorry... Let's start over.

Hello...new chapter.

Oh yeah, spoilers (big ones) for The Dresden Files up to Small Favor so watch out if you haven't read that one yet.

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Stepping through the portal, Crow had to throw himself to the ground, the rest of the group quickly following his example when they saw where they had landed.

Boromir was a little slower then the others. Snape was forced to grab the man and drag him down to the dirt packed floor they had landed on.

Boromir had never heard anything like the roaring noise that seemed to erupt from the hands of very large men.

The man holding the staff and conjuring fire out of midair was actually more familiar to the man from Middle Earth.

Although he seemed far to young to be a wizard as he had come to know them, Boromir was nonetheless sure that the man was perfectly capable of taking on many things.

Just not _those _things.

The monsters all looked different from each other, though they all had vaguely humanoid shapes and a coin was pressed into their foreheads. The coins seemed to glow with a kind of dark power that reminded Boromir of the ring.

Boromir noticed that even The Bat-man eyes had widened for a moment.

Boromir figured that he could judge just how bad a situation was judging by how grim the large masked mans face became.

Usually he was grim but he had seen the cold facade crack slightly when he was around his younger partner. No warmth was showing as of this moment, if anything his face seemed to freeze over slightly as the man judged the situation in happening around the group.

The group was stuck between the two combating forces, and although he was willing to give almost any species the benefit of the doubt, Batman noticed that Crow was shrinking away from the monstrous creatures .

It looked like they were stuck between bad guys and badder guys.

Because no matter how horrific the creatures were, Batman had seen enough Mafia members to notice the paramilitary clothing and the high priced automatic rifles that they were firing with little effect into the opposing group.

Although he wasn't sure how to categorize the two men who stood out from the mafia crowd, one was in a leather duster, he seemed to be throwing around flame like fiery basketballs.

The other was coolly slicing off any grasping limbs that came close to him, his Armani suit was becoming a bloody mess and if the glow in his green eyes was any indication he didn't give a damn about the suit.

Bruce Wayne had seen many types of rich men, this one seemed to fit the savage millionaire to a tee. Batman could almost see parts of the man's past laid out before his mind.

He had risen through the ranks of the crime family with ease, but once he gained complete control of the crime in the area that he wished to rule over, the man would actually be a better choice than total anarchy among the criminal element.

HIs eyes flitted away from the suit clad man and returned to the man in the duster. Those fireballs were impressive but they also seemed to be taking a lot out of the man, he had begun to slow down his attacks, giving himself some breathing room in between each burst.

Crow reached over to touch Batman's shoulder, looking at his younger lover Batman tilted his head questioningly and Crow jerked his head over towards the group of mostly human men.

Eyes narrowed at the implication that he wasn't able to fight off anything himself, Batman's glower grew.

When one of the mafia thugs was thrown over the heads of his comrades, minus a few limbs, Batman bolted into action.

He did not however head towards the humans.

He ran directly towards the monsters, Robin and Batgirl on his heels.

Crow seemed to disappear into the shadows, Raven was watching his Lord and even he didn't notice when the teenager vanished from sight.

Boromir had been watching the man in the leather coat, when he noticed the pair of swords that he stood over.

The man from Middle Earth may not have known what a gun was or how to draw flame from midair, but his skill with the sword was considered almost legendary.

It seemed wrong that the man would simply stand over two perfectly good weapons when neither his flame or the roaring weapons seemed to having any sort of effect on the monsters which were slowly advancing on the humans.

The swords seemed well made, although he was drawn towards the broadsword more than the oddly curved sword.

He had seen Raven do many amazing things so without thinking about it Boromir asked.

"Could you get those swords to us?"

Raven's head jerked around at the unexpected words, seeing the swords for the first time his eyes couldn't move from the weapons after he caught sight of them.

The curved sword seemed to draw him, he had never been one for fencing but Raven was also no slouch at using most weapons that relied on even a modicum of hand eye coordination.

Besides sharp edge goes into the monsters seemed like a good plan.

A wave of his wand had the swords slipping out from under the wizard who was staggering from exhaustion.

Another wave placed a shield in front of the man.

It wouldn't stop a bullet or a fist from one of the monsters, but the acid that one of the females seemed fond of spitting wasn't able to get through, or any other light projectile which the monsters liked to throw or spit.

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Dresden had been fighting for what felt like hours, he had been throwing magical energy around frantically trying to hold off the Denarians without much luck.

Dodging monster spit wasn't likely to put him in a good mood in the first place, but seeing Nicodemus still alive and well after Harry had drowned him made his mood even more rotten.

So when a magical shield slammed into place in front of him Harry was unwilling to give whoever had placed it in front of him the benefit of the doubt.

Gathering the dregs of his strength Harry threw a gust of wind at the shield bracing himself for the wind to either shatter the shield or blow the wind back at him.

What he wasn't expecting was that the shield allowed him to send the wind directly through the shield without causing a ripple in the magic.

It managed to hit Nicodemus directly in the face, a minor annoyance but the look on the Denarians face was more than worth the effort.

If you can't kill the encroaching monsters, you might as well annoy the hell out of them.

Deirdre stood behind her father, her hair was still viciously swiping at any humans near enough to injure, although if Harry hadn't been as exhausted as he was he would have had a smart ass comment on hand.

It seemed her hair had to be chopped free of the reefs that she had managed to escape from on that night. Instead of the dangerously strong tentacles that she had managed before the hair barely reached her lower back.

Still dangerous in close combat but a hell of a lot less threatening.

Not worrying about the shield for a moment Harry was preparing to throw a final bolt of energy at the encroaching monsters.

Until he realized that the same force that had placed the shield in front of him had also managed to take the two swords of the cross out from underneath him.

He only had a frantic moment to wonder where they had disappeared to when he heard two voice raise in a simultaneous roar that seemed to shake the ground.

Turning to face the sound Harry Dresden's eyes which had seen more than their fare share of horrors and wonders, widened in utter shock.

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The hilts of the two swords hit the mens palms at the same time, and where unsheathed just as quickly.

Only Snape even remotely recognized the emotion that ripped through them. It was similar to when he had first held his wand, magnified a hundred fold.

A warm, steady power flowed through their bodies as a blazing light glowed from the swords

Together the two flung themselves towards the monsters, an unlikely pair, sweeping into battle as though born to it.

The Denarians cringed, though whether it was the sight of the two men or the glowing swords was a point of contention no one would give a damn about.

Severus swept into the fray his robe blowing around him in a furious wind fueled by the interaction of the sword and the wand that he still grasped firmly. The two seeming to work in concert.

Although no one would ever call him beautiful Severus Snape's expression at that moment was so wildly fey as to be unforgettable.

Boromir was equally astonishing almost unrecognizable to the naked eye to the man that had only moments before stepped through the rip in space.

It wasn't so much that anything had changed, Boromir was still exactly who he had been before, he was simply, more.

The metal on his armor shined in concert with the glowing blade as he let loose a battle cry equal to any lion.

The pair converged on the monster in the suit, the monster who wore his own noose around his neck.

Fallen angel or not Nicodemus never stood a chance.

Seeing to of God's son's swords coming at him at once, caused no fear to bloom in the breast of one of the most powerful creatures in the magical world.

Well in the world that he inhabited at least.

Turning to face the two advancing men, Nicodemus clenched his fists and brought his shadow under his command and flung them at the two men.

Boromir swiped through the darkness that attacked him and sent it screeching back to its master.

Raven simply stepped over the encroaching wave as though it was of no importance, and no matter how the shadow tried to attack it could not touch The Lord of Dark's own Steward.

When Nicodemus spoke it broke a silence that had only been interrupted by gunfire and screams of pain.

"Welcome travelers to the gates of hell."

Severus and Boromir exchanged a glance.

"Was your Sauron scarier than this?"

"Most definitely and your Voldemort?"

"Quite."

In unison the pair separated and began to circle the monster in opposing circles.

His shadows proved equally ineffectual in close combat so Nicodemus brought all of his power to bear on the robed man who's soul seemed soaked in a blackness that the other man had only been dipped in.

"Mortal, imagine what we could do together, what we could be. All the riches of the world would be yours, all the women you could ever want."

Raven's smile was glacial as he answered, "All that you offer I have already searched for. I have had three masters over the course of my short lifetime, only one of whom is capable of giving me what I most desire. I will not give him up."

Furious, Nicodemus lunged at the smaller man, in his anger momentarily forgetting the blonde which had been slowly closing in behind his back.

Severus coldly smirked through the spatter of dark blood as the holy blade cleanly swiped Nicodemus's demonic head from his shoulders.

Even as the body fell, it reached for its lost extremity and seeing the dark roiling power of the noose around his copiously bleeding neck, Raven with a flick of his wand burned the rotting rope into a pile of glowing ash.

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Batman and Crow were barely able to contain one of the smaller monsters between the two of them and were quickly loosing ground when Robin and Batgirl entered the fight.

None of the masked humans tried to close in on the creatures they simply harried them, trying desperately to exhaust the beasts.

Crow felt his eyes begin to blur from exhaustion as he nimbly tumbled over an outstretched claw of a hand and barely missed being skewered on an incoming tendril of hair.

Hair that had come from the woman he had begun to think of as mini-Med as he watched her hair fly about.

He hadn't met that many but Crow was certain that this woman could be placed in the same category as Bellatrix Lestrange and later Pansy Parkinson.

Crazy bitches.

Inching closer to the woman's body, Crow had a difficult time staying close enough to the ground to keep away from her blade like locks.

A rare breed Crazy bitches, mused Crow as a particularly wild blow chopped off some of his own hair, ah but making the endangered species an extinct species, there's the rub.

When he finally was close enough to the woman that she risked cutting herself as well as her intended target Crow made his move.

Instead of trying to face her head on, Crow landed a painful blow to the back of her right knee which quickly took her feet out from under her.

The Denarian may be a monster of hell but the body that it inhabited no matter how it tried to enhance it was only human, with its particular human quirks and weaknesses.

Including that of the back of the knee.

Deirdre fell to the ground heavily as though her mind was unable to comprehend why her body had so suddenly failed her.

Even as she hit the earth, a masked hero each grabbed a limb until she was spread eagled out on the earth. With all four of them occupied they were at a loss as to what was supposed to happen next.

When a blood spattered Raven joined them and his unquenched sword quickly punctured the heart of the still madly screaming medusa, all four were able to relinquish their death grips on the madly thrashing limbs.

Batman felt a wave of nausea overcome him as he saw the still moving limbs of the now dead creature before him.

But whatever regret he felt was soon lost in the shock of seeing the body consumed so readily by the air around it until all that remained was a single ash covered coin.

Seeing both their leader and his daughter so easily felled by the newly arrived group the rest of the Denarians fled fearfully into the night.

Their whispered words of terror ensuring that nothing except perhaps the Erlking himself would enter the arena from which these great monsters had so recently fled.

Harry Dresden and John Marcone had by no means been still when they had seen the distraction that the other group had created. They had taken full advantage managing to fell a final Denarian, tearing at its slender limbs while it desperately tried to escape the maddened mortals that it had so recently looked down upon.

When it too had finally fallen three coins lay on the ground, two swords were still tightly grasped by their knew owners and everybody tried desperately to catch their breaths.

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A/N

...Including the author.

Well a battle scene that takes up an entire chapter...that's a new one for me. Was fricking fun though. I killed Nicodemus (he always pissed me off in the books.) I dance on his nonexistent and unhallowed grave.

Errr, that aside hope everybody enjoyed it.

Pretty please read and review


	6. Chapter 6

A/N

Alright it has come to my attention that some people have not read the Jim Butcher series known as The Dresden Files. While I urge you to read them (like immediately cause their made of awesome) I cannot force anybody to do so. So here is a very brief description of the series.

Harry Dresden is a wizard, he is also a private detective. John Marcone is the Mafia Lord of Chicago, he is a very dark character but if you read the books you realize why everything that he does has a purpose.

The Denarians are fallen angels The Fallen Angels, each Denarian possesses any mortal which physically touches the coin which is the center of their earthly power their are 30 coins (Judas was paid 30 coins to betray Jesus do we see the connection?)

The Denarians fight against three Knights. Each Knight owns a sword which has an original piece of the cross embedded in its hilt. One Knight was killed saving Harry Dresden from Vampires so the sword was entrusted to Harry. Another Knight ( a close friend of Harry's) was gravely wounded and was forced to retire so his sword also went to Harry.

The third sword belongs to an Atheist who has left the country and for the sake of my story is not particularly important although their may be references to him. Bob is an air spirit of knowledge which is trapped in a skull, he works for Harry. Harry pays him in romance novels... I cannot make this shit up. Bob is the shit, he will be making an appearance have no fear.

In my story John Marcone/Harry Dresden are in an established relationship. This is not so in the books but they are just to perfect for each other for me to have them be with anybody else.

Now before I give away every plot to each story I will continue with mine, although their will continue to be references to stuff that happens in the stories that you will only truly understand if you READ the books. But you'll have to get your own, my copies are all tattered and a little worse for the wear. That happens when you reread them over and over and over.... ahem anywho enjoy the chapter.

Oh, by the by when Harry Dresden is speaking in this chapter I'll say Harry or Dresden.

When Harry Potter is speaking I'll say Crow.

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When the three masked men released the still twitching body of the Denarian, all three drew back from the approaching group of thugs, although Batman noticed that both the man in the duster as well as the man in the now blood covered Armani suit were at the forefront of the movement.

Watching the defensive positioning of the men, they couldn't help but do the same. Batman and Crow stood shoulder to shoulder, Batman with Robin and Batgirl flanking him,while Boromir and Raven flanked the much shorter Crow.

They must have made quite a sight, if the widening eyes of the hardened thugs in front of them was any indication.

It probably didn't help that every member of the group was obviously furious to be where they were.

When none of the Mafia's guns were lowered Crow lost what little patience he had left.

"Look, you blockheads, I don't know about you but I'm tired. And I haven't even been fighting long compared to you. So either point the weapons somewhere else, or I'll...I'll." Crow deflated. "Okay so I don't know exactly what I'll do if you don't lower your weapons but neither of us will like it."

Even as he spoke Batman had to place a steadying hand on the teens lower back to make sure that he kept his feet. It seemed that the conversation with Fate as well as their travels had taken its toll on the usually unstoppable young Lord.

Crow felt as though he hadn't slept for days, and as the last of his adrenaline faded from his system he felt exhaustion closing its inexorable hands tightly around his mind.

Harry Dresden was well aware that these strangely dressed people could and perhaps would be a threat but seeing the exhaustion that gripped the youngest member of their party he felt a slight softening towards the strangers.

He hadn't missed the steadying hand, which forced him to reevaluate who they were dealing with.

John Marcone had no such weakness, although he had noticed both the exhaustion and its response, he only took that into account on the premise of how they had dealt with the monsters that had just fled.

Exhausted or not the group was dangerous and he was unwilling to risk his men or his own hide for the sake of possible allies.

He figured Harry would have a different idea on the matter. He probably wouldn't like it much.

He wasn't wrong.

Stepping away from the armed men, Harry slowly walked closer to the group which seemed to tighten within itself as the strangers readied themselves for whatever was about to happen.

Dresden slowly extended a hand towards the towering form of their masked leader.

The icy expression didn't disappear from the threatening mans demeanor but with only the slightest hesitation he accepted the hand and shook it in a firm if brief grasp.

"Thank you, for your assistance without it many more people would have died."

"Yes." Agreed, the masked man, who as Harry looked at him more closely seemed to resemble the symbol of an animal, although what animal was beyond him.

Harry opened his mouth to say more but was forced to swallow his words when the youth standing beside the leader collapsed.

Harry had to suppress a recoil when he saw the blackened eyes staring sightlessly from the youth's face. Before the boy could hit the ground, the bestial leader snatched him mid-fall and in an effortless motion hefted the hundred pounds of dead weight into his arms.

The boy began to whisper and Harry's face paled as he finally caught what the boy was saying.

**The Swords are a chance for the wrong to be righted.**

**For two of God's children who have always been slighted.**

**But The Devils children will fight for a blade.**

**Stopping them first will cause the loss of a maid.**

**Batgirl will be lost for a time and than raised.**

**For the dead are not dead unless they are praised.**

**Fear not her absence oh bravest of Knights.**

**She will return on the darkest of nights.**

As the boy's eyes faded back into their natural green, they slipped closed as he lost conscience.

Gently tipping the limp form into the waiting arms of the robed man, Harry barely heard the mutter from the leader.

"She said no more rhyming."

The robed man's reply was even softer.

"And when has She ever kept her word."

The robed man held the sheathed sword under his arm while he gently cradled his young Lord. The blonde had placed his sheathed sword into a waiting loop in his belt.

Harry, saw the way that they had easily assumed control of the blades and he would have said something if he hadn't seen the near blinding glow that the swords had produced when they had gripped the holy weapons.

Plus none of the strangers seemed to be the sort that would welcome his usual sort of sarcastic humor, although that had rarely stopped him. Harry noted the lines of exhaustion that he knew were probably mirrored in his own face.

Enough of this.

"There's a safe house about five minutes from here, that should be big enough for all of us to rest."

"Dresden," Marcone's warning tone was ignored by the nearly staggering wizard.

"Oh stuff it John, we're all exhausted. If they were going to kill us they could have just let The Denarians eat us."

"Your trust in people is as always astounding, and what exactly are we going to do with the coins?"

Snape had been studying the coins even as he cradled the still body in his arms.

They obviously contained at least part of the souls of what the wizard had called the Denarians. He had been studying Horcruxes off and on for years.

Voldemort had been very interested in the magical devices, but after a single failed attempt (The Avada Kedavra which had hit the infant Harry Potter) Voldemort had stopped searching on that particular path to immortality.

Passing the boy to Boromir, ignoring the slight tensing of his Lord's mate. Snape stepped over to the coin ignoring the loud protestations of the American wizard. He had absolutely no intention of touching the coins, he hadn't survived as long as he had by being stupid.

Pulling his wand from the pocket he had stuffed it in, Snape aimed carefully at the coin and with a particularly vicious twist of his wand stated emotionlessly.

"_Avada Kedavra." _

The effect of the sickly green light on the Coin was instantaneous. It melted into a puddle of black goo, a hair raising screech erupting as the Earthly part of the fallen angel died.

He paced steadily to each coin and repeated the process two more times, each time he had to push himself even further as he felt the blackness of the escaping souls brush past him. The tried to stop him from finishing what he had started but he had always been the person who thumbed his nose at what others wanted.

When he finished his task, Snape turned and found the Wizard Dresden gaping at him in amazement. He would have found it amusing if he hadn't seen the blackness at the edge of his vision which warned him that he was working from the last dregs of his physical and magical strength.

Looking at Batman, Snape stated baldly.

"I'm going to sit now." and he did exactly that, not even bothering to slow his fall to the ground. Robin and a pale Batgirl each grabbed an arm and pulled him up so that they were each under an arm.

Robin sighed as he held up the swaying weight of the Steward. "Where's that safe house, not to complain but none of us have slept much for the past week and we're all on our last legs."

Batman gave a low grumble of warning at his sidekicks openness which Robin ignored with the ease of much practice.

Dresden jerked his head towards a house which was located across from the soccer field which the battle had taken place in.

It didn't look like much, but Robin was willing to bet that even a wooden floor would be dryer than the blood spattered grass of the field.

The Mafia group had already collected the bodies of their comrades and were stumbling just as tiredly towards the house.

No one said a word even as the two separate groups stepped through the wards that Dresden had set up and seeing that the large home actually had a few pieces of furniture in it and not even bothering to head up the stairs which the Mafia members were heading for, Batman lead his exhausted group into the living room and the three members which held up their comrades headed towards the pair of couches.

Laying the now two limp bodies across from each other, Boromir slipped away from the boy and headed towards the Steward that had fought by his side today and gently lowered his stiffening body to the thickly carpeted floor. His eyes had widened when he caught sigh to the house so different from what he was used to and yet so familiar.

When they had picked up the swords, the newly made Knights of the Cross had felt a snap of connection between the two of them. They had not shared memories so much as the flavor of each others lives, shared skills between the two so Snape's sword work had improved rapidly while Boromir picked up the gist of what it was like to live in the modern world that the Steward had come from.

Though Boromir thought he'd wait and see until he believed the horseless carriages that streaked down streets were real.

The flying brooms were also a little worrisome.

Stealing one of the pillows that Snape's form hadn't curled around, Boromir curled up on the soft floor and dropped off to sleep so quickly that he wasn't even aware of the texture of the pillow that his head slumped onto.

Batgirl had slumped in a corner trying desperately to hide the trembling that had overcome her body when she heard the prophecy that Crow had muttered. She was many things but suicidal wasn't one of them, she had no wish to die for even a little while.

Robin eased down beside her and wrapping a lean arm around her shoulders pulled her into a hug. She slumped against Robin's chest and after a few moments her exhaustion overcame her terror and she too slipped into sleep.

Robin's eyes flicked over to the still standing Batman. He was watching them, Robin had to search the eyes that kept flicking away to study the room but he saw the fear in them.

He had just regained his two sidekicks he was unwilling to lose anybody else in his life. Robin pulled Batgirl a little closer and closed his eyes.

Batman watched them for a couple more minutes before turning around and coming face to the wizard, who while quite a bit taller than the Batman wasn't as obviously muscular.

Harry had to brace his feet apart to stay steady as he watched the way the masked man stood guard over his sleeping charges. As the only girl, Harry would bet that the small masked woman was Batgirl, and her costumes similarities to her leaders made his words a well chosen guess.

"Guarding your colony, Batman?"

"Can't sleep Wizard Dresden?"

"I have to guard my own people."

"John's guard dog isn't doing a good enough job for you?"

"He guards his people I guard mine."

Batman grunted at him and failing to say any more as an answer, Harry pulled away and trudged back up the stairs.

He really was exhausted.

Batman was tired but he was unwilling to sleep and leave his so called 'colony' unprotected neither Snape nor Crow had been awake long enough to set up their own wards.

With only a slight hesitation, Batman took a seat and pulled Crow into his lap, cradling the limp body as close to him as his armor would allow. He didn't sleep but he did allow his body to fall into that sort of zoning focus that allowed him to stay aware of his surroundings and gave his body a chance to rest and heal.

All was still in the house as all but the silently alert guards slept off the exhaustion of days worth of fighting.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

John Marcone had always had difficulty sleeping, his paranoia not allowing him to ever relax completely. He was a man who had made many enemies over the years some for who he was most for what he had done.

He regretted very little.

Something he would never regret was having Harry Dresden in his life. He had thought he was a man of solitude until a man he was willing to believe was more than half crazy came into his life like a whirling dervish.

Blowing things up and killing monsters with no regard to the ectoplasmic goo they tended to splatter.

When the wizard crawled into his bed, he wrapped his arms around the much taller man with no hesitation. He may have been justifiably furious that Harry had offered up his safe house to a group of dangerous strangers but he would never say no to holding somebody close.

He would never believe that the amazing man in his arms would never leave him. Willingly or not, he knew that he was likely to die first when faced with a wizards longevity, not even riches could give a mere mortal that power.

As he said he regretted little.

Falling asleep to the even breaths of his lover Marcone unconsciously grasped the man closer to him, entwining his limbs with the other man's, and holding on for dear life.

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A/N

This feels like filler to me, but I have to give my boys a chance to sleep since I seem to keep interrupting them just when they start to relax.

Hope ya'll enjoyed it.

Read and Review Please

TaTa

gussiegal5


	7. Chapter 7

No this is NOT a new chapter. I had to delete the last little bit because it was bugging me. Now I have gotten a new computer, having murdered my last one so expect a new chapter in the next couple of days. I don't know when exactly because I've been running around like mad for the past two weeks trying to get all of my homework done.

Oh one note, Molly Carpenter is Michael Carpenter's daughter and she is Harry Dresden's apprentice. They are both under the Doom of Damocles because Molly used her magic to twist some of her friends minds to try and save them from themselves.

This is illegal and punishable by death (the mind magic) if she does anything else to piss off the White Council which is the council of wizards that make sure that magical humans stay within the laws of magic. If they don't. They get decapitated with only a farce of a trial.

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The entire household fell silent as almost everyone fell asleep, Batman's eyes were closed to mere slits and his body posture was relaxed, his breathing steady.

Only the glint of blue gave away the fact that he was awake and that was mostly hidden by the mask that he wore like a second layer of skin.

But it wasn't sight that gave away the presence of the stranger that entered the living room nearly three hours later. Long practice kept Batman from tilting his head to the side as he strained to hear what he couldn't see.

Quiet footsteps, were his first clue, they came down the hall slowly obviously trying to remain silent as they slipped by the guard without acknowledging him. The scent hit him next a delicately feminine floral scent that was soothing and light.

Batman had never really been one to trust floral scent. Poison Ivy had ruined the scent of roses for him.

If the footsteps had kept going, up the stairs than Batman would have let it be. He was quite certain that the Wizard Dresden was perfectly capable of taking care of himself.

But instead the footsteps entered the room where he and the rest of his colony lay in the closest thing to repose that they had, had in a long time.

The soft tap of boots disappeared when they stepped onto the deep carpet but he tracked the movement by the shushing noise the intruders clothing made as they moved throughout the room.

When the stranger stopped front of him, Batman had to restrain himself from attacking the not-so-empty air in front of him. It was remotely possible that the person in front of them was simply curious since they had not set off any of the security alarms and magical wards.

Crow had no such compunctions.

The teen went from limply relaxed to an explosion of movement. He leapt off of the couch and tumbled directly into an obviously solid mass. Crow's hands found the throat of the woman he had knocked over and began to quietly strangle the intruder into unconsciousness.

The veil that had covered the young woman tumbled as she gasped for air scrabbling desperately to remove the implacable hands of the masked teen that crouched over her, an animalistic glint of rage in the emerald eyes.

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Dresden had felt the sudden surge of familiar magic even in the deep sleep he had fallen into and with a curse he tumbled free from the loving clutches of both his lover and his bed.

Loping down the stairs he was met with a sight that made blood rush from his face as he realized just how close his apprentice was coming to death if the grim expression on the teens face was anything to go by.

The eldest of the masked men, reached down and pulled Crow from the nearly blue young woman.

Stepping into the room, giving plenty of advanced warning for the now awake group that stared angrily back at him.

"Miss Carpenter. Come here _now_!"

She managed to drag herself to her feet and stepped towards him, still gasping for breath from both terror and fury.

"They attacked me." If there was any doubt as to the state of his apprentices guilt it was wiped away by the whine that wove it's way through Molly's sentence.

"Paranoia has no doubt served them well throughout their lives. Stars and stone's girl your lucky that you weren't killed. What's your excuse for being present in a house that I explicitly stated you were to stay well clear of, and Molly, it had better be good."

Molly Carpenter shuffled in her combat boots. Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times but she was unable to come up with a suitable reason for her presence.

The blonde swordsman spat a word at her that was unmistakably an insult. It was the first word that Harry had heard the man say and it sounded wholly alien.

Molly seemed to shrink in on herself even further noting that the masked teen wasn't the only one staring at her with murderous intent.

Harry's expression caused a different sort of reaction, the man was obviously furious that she had shown up against his express wishes.

"I just wanted to know what you were doing, you've been running around like mad all month and I figured if I didn't find out what was going on myself I'd never know until it was to late for me to help you."

"Help me?" Harry scoffed, "Hell's bells, you can't even defend yourself. I expressly told you to leave it alone, not as a family friend and not as your friend. I told you as your master. Which means, no matter how you feel about what I tell you. You damn well better LISTEN."

The magic behind the final word actually drove Molly back several steps. Directly into the waiting arms of the two swordsmen.

The two men easily drove her into a corner, ignoring the desperate looks she through at her teacher who watched the proceedings with an enviable calm. Pulling herself together Molly managed a weak protest.

"He attacked me. I was just defending myself."

Although the two men were nearly opposites physically they seemed to bleed together. Breathing in unison they began to speak.

"The Lord of Dark..." said the dark man.

"Does not attack..." said the blonde.

"Without provocation." They said together.

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Unable to control herself any longer, Molly desperately threw a mental attack at the men in front of her attempting to bring forward their worst memories. Hoping desperately to incapacitate them, Molly waited for the men to react.

She was unprepared for the attack to be sent back at her. The blonde man easily withdrew while the raven haired man lunged forward lips pulled back into a furious scowl.

"So you want me to see that which I fear most. Those memories which have been buried in the hopes that if forgotten they will be forgiven."

A single hand held her inches off of the floor as the dark man grabbed her collar. The grip was such that she had to gasp for enough air to stay conscious as the man slipped through the mental barriers that she had been desperately building for months as she fought to control the stain that was spreading on her magic.

She caught only a glimpse of the man's mind and it nearly broke her, if the man hadn't been pulled away by his sword brother, Molly wasn't sure if her mind could have held up to the horrors that the man had lived through and participated in.

She collapsed in the corner she had been backed into, sobbing so hard that it barely gave her a chance to breathe between low moans of misery.

Dresden stepped in front of her his face now furiously scowling at the robed man.

"What the hell did you do to her."

The man's face had blanked of emotion as he saw the protective posture.

"I showed her what I have seen, as she wanted me to see. If you cannot control your apprentice Wizard Dresden, I would say that perhaps you attempt to teach her that while delving into strangers minds can no doubt be useful it is also foolishly dangerous if you do not know what the stranger is capable of."

Hearing what the girl had attempted to do Harry's face darkened even more. Did the girl have a death wish? Reaching desperately for calm, Harry had to stop himself from physically picking the girl up and throwing her out the door.

Instead he reached for the phone and dialed the number he needed from memory.

"Hello, Michael glad to see that your home from the hospital. Yes she's here. No I didn't ask her to come over, in fact I expressly forbade her from doing any such thing. Yes I am well aware of how well that usually works on teenagers but I figured Molly could be enough of a grown up that she could restrain her curiosity."

Molly was looking frantically at the phone her face first going pale and then going beet red when she realized who her mentor was speaking to as well as what he was saying.

She slumped down on the couch, uncomfortably inching away from the stranger group that seemed to fill the room. All of their clothing was odd, but it was the masks that really freaked her out.

What did they have to hide.

That was all that she had wanted to know when she walked into the room and seen the strangers. She had, had no interest in controlling them she had just been curious.

Which had led her to trying to peak into the darkly clothed masked teen and been met with a cold blackness which had repelled her magics attempts to gather information. And the next instant she had found a pair of surprisingly strong hands wrapped around her throat slowly squeezing the life out of her.

She paid enough attention to hear the last bit of conversation that Harry was having with her father.

"...No Michael that won't be necessary. Well if your sure? Very well then, I'm at Browning and Fifth house 304. It will be nice to not be the focus of her wrath this time hopefully. Uh huh okay bye Michael."

Gently placing the old phone back in its cradle, Harry turned to face Molly a look of pleased antagonism on his face.

"Your, mother will be here momentarily. Prepare yourself."

If it was possible Molly's face drained even more fully of blood. "I can manage to get home by myself."

"No doubt," Harry practically purred. "But if I cannot trust you to obey a direct command I am hardly going to trust you to follow simple instructions to return home. You can explain to your parents who I do believe already have quite enough problems why exactly you are here."

Molly's eyes narrowed and she lost control of her mouth. "Your the reason that their exhausted. Your the reason that my father can barely walk. Your the reason that my family is falling apart."

Harry's own face darkened threateningly as he loomed over his much shorter apprentice.

"I don't think I need to remind you that your father is a grown man, perfectly capable of making his own decisions. He is also a Knight of the Cross meaning that on a regular basis he risked his life in God's name. They are not complaining about what happened to him because at least he can retire without being placed in a body bag."

He slowly began to intrude on her space until her back was fully pressed back into the couch trying desperately to scrabble even further away without success.

"The only one causing disruption in your family at the moment are the Denarians and YOU. So put on your big girl pants and grow the fuck up. Your family has had quite enough tragedy and pain in the last couple of months without you causing more by getting into a situation that your are not capable dealing with."

The words were snarled and the tone had deepened until the words were no more than a low growl, and all the more dangerous because of it.

"And need I remind you that the Doom placed on you is also applied to me. Apparently you wish to die and take me with you."

Molly opened her mouth angrily to defend herself and was halted when a wave of Harry's hand silenced her.

"You do NOT look into other peoples minds for any reason. You do not have the right. Nobody has that right unless it is expressly given and sleeping people cannot give you that permission."

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As Harry began to verbally filet his apprentice, Batman jerked his head towards the shadowed hallway. He did not need to be present for the diatribe that the teenager was getting and judging by her reaction none of them wanted to meet the mother that could cause a near faint in such a tough young woman.

The only reason that they felt the low roar of the approaching monster was because they were standing near a window. The window blew in with a tremendous crash, scattering glass and forcing the group of six to duck away from the small creature that had burst through.

It was the size of a small dog. It's teeth hung out of its drooling mouth by at least an impossible half a foot.

How the hell did it manage to close it's mouth?

Crow decided to call it Jaws if he lived through this.

The monster was followed by a bevy of similar creatures. Sleep who needed sleep, thought Crow wildly, all he really needed was another shot of adrenaline. Harry and Molly flew from the living room they had been in both hitting the opposite wall with a thud as another larger monster stepped through.

I guess Crow now knew where the myths about the Abominable Snowman had come from. Although its fur was closer to a piss yellow than a snowy white.

When the creatures were thrust through the wards that had been placed around the house, the magic that had controlled their actions snapped. They were finally able to release all of their pent up anger as they were no longer forced to obey whoever had sent them.

Blood would be spilled on this night.

All of the creatures felt the compulsion that signaled to them that a Knight of the Cross was in their presence. The warriors of god who were responsible for many of their brethren's deaths.

Snape and Boromir found themselves the center of the monsters attack. They seemed to have an unholy focus that would allow them only enough distraction to swat away the rest of the fighters.

Not to say that the rest of the group didn't apply themselves well, monsters were falling in droves but there always seemed to be more of them simply waiting to step through the window.

Marcone and his men were desperately trying to join in on the fray but whatever had been controlling the monsters had relinquished their hold for a reason. The wards had rippled at the entrance of the monsters and a magical shield had been placed around the original combatants forcing the Mafia Lord and his men to stand helplessly on the sidelines as the slaughter took place inside the dome of magic.

Only the piss yellow monster was giving the group any true trouble and Batman found himself and his two original apprentices fighting against a monster that could give Bain a beat down without much effort.

Just as they thought they had the monster cornered, it launched itself into the air over their heads twisting away from the cords sent out to catch him.

Molly was desperately trying to fight off a group of the dog like monsters which smelled the remnants of her fathers scent. A scent that they recognized even if it had lost the holy power which had caused them such fear in the first place. Molly was fending them off as best as she could, her magic didn't have the fierce intensity that made Dresden so dangerous, but she was perfectly capable of inflicting damage on the encroaching monsters.

But she was focusing so intently on the creatures swarming around her knees that she failed to see the encroaching yellow monster, its apelike arms swung towards her unprotected back, vicious claws fully extended.

If they had hit her back, Molly had no doubt her spine would have been exposed to the open air as the flesh was ripped from her bones.

If.

Batgirl had been desperately flinging the small creatures into the paths of Snape's and Boromirs swords, her batarangs weren't effective enough against the creatures to do more than bloody the skin of the monsters. That didn't stop her from launching herself between the distracted teenager and the encroaching monster.

Her batarang made a direct hit in the creatures heart, just as his claws sliced across her face, snapping her head to the side.

It was the sickening crack of her neck cracking that had Molly whirling on her feet. For a moment silence fell as Batgirl's limp body hit the floor with an uncontrolled thud.

She didn't move.

A strange howling noise erupted from two throats as Batman and Robin fell on the yellow creature. Crow's flung his head back and joined them in the haunting cry as he felt the pain of his mate as a physical torment. Something in him snapped, and Crow lifted his hands in front of him and a wickedly glowing darkness began to spread from his hands.

Even as he pulled the magic directly from his core, Crow's howl turned into a scream of agony the magic seemed to rip through the skin and bones of his hands and stream into the two masked vigilantes.

Piss Yellow Bad Ass Abominable Snowman or not, the creature never stood a chance.

Neither of the two men seemed to physically change but suddenly the blows the threw at the quickly moving creature began to land. More than land, they began to physically tear the creature apart.

Batman had made a vow to never kill.

He kept his vow.

Robin had made no such promise at the grave of his parents.

The monsters growls turned into terrified squeals, quickly followed by silence as Robin silently tore the creature apart. Standing over the still form of his first kill, blood still dripping thickly from his hands, Robin ceased to exist. In his stead stood a new figure, as imposing in his way as Batman.

The dark magic had whisked the colors from his costume. No longer was he in the greens and reds of his youth instead a blue bird stood out in stark relief against the inky backdrop of his black costume.

Nightwing had risen.

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Turning away from the form he spared only a seconds glance to note that all of the dog-like creatures had fallen to the swords of the blade brothers.

Then he joined his mentor as they kneeled one on either side of the fallen form of their comrade.

And then the world shifted.

No longer were the three vigilantes in a bloodied hallway instead they stood in the endless room that only Batman had seen, and that with dreamers eyes.

Fate's countenance was grave as she studied the fallen woman as well as her two pallbearers. None of her sparkled, her ears were devoid of earrings and her dress had been exchanged for a dark cloak.

"I warned you."

"Yes," agreed Batman his voice hoarse with grief he desperately tried to maintain his composure.

Nightwing was not able to do the same.

"You Bitch. WHY!?!"

"Because it is how it must be. If she had not died you would still be Robin, a light in the dark to be sure, but one that would have been swiftly extinguished. Batgirl is not gone forever, Dick, the prophecy I sent was a true one. When she returns you will both have changed. Death does that."

The only reason that Nighwing was not able to wrap his fingers around the throat of Fate was because of the two men who guarded her. Each managed to grab an arm, although it was with some difficulty that they managed to restrain the wildly struggling man.

Fate's eyes narrowed as she backhanded him across the face.

"Now you listen to me boy, I do as I am told just as any other lackey. Although I grant you I have more leeway than most. I do not create these rules, I merely follow them as all of us have done. I have taken away your partner, in return I have imbued both you and Batman with the strength to battle anything that is in your way. You will not age, you will not weaken. A fair trade for a moments pain."

"Crow?" voiced Batman

A wave of her hand seemed to keep the word from hitting her.

"A mere vessel at this point in time to complete the transaction."

"It's not fair," snarled Nightwing going limp in the arms of his captors.

"Life never is." snapped Fate, "She is the bitch not I."

"Now go, I will care for the body of your comrade to ensure that her fate is properly aligned."

When Batman and Nightwing returned to the hallway it was as though a mere instant had gone by and the only difference was that Batgirl had disappeared.

Batman dragged his aching body over to Crow and pulled the rocking teen into his arms carefully studying the burns that seemed to cover both hands.

Severus threw him a small vial of lotion which Batman caught without glancing upwards and carefully began to massage into the broken flesh.

Nightwing flung himself out of the broken window and into the night air, feeling the unfamiliar ease with which he moved only made him run faster. Finally the man reached a small park, untarnished by the days happenings and there he settled waiting impatiently for his love to be returned to him. A love who didn't know.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


	8. Chapter 8

FINALLY I'm putting up Chapter 8 of OSPoE I know everyone thinks that I disappeared off of the fanfiction map but I expect to finish this story. It might take me a long time but I do expect to finish it. Hope this chapter was worth nearly what six months of waiting.

Oh any questions about Dresden stuff, or anything else, just send me a PM and I'll give you a more detailed overview based on your questions.

CHAPTER 8

Harry and Molly stood helplessly by as they saw the strangers fall apart. The two swordsmen were huddled together in a corner.

Harry was certain he saw the brunette clutching what looked like a giant bat to his chest. Batman clung to the shaking boy even as he gently rubbed the lotion into the hands.

Harry's own injured hand twitched in sympathy as he caught sight of the nearly skinless flesh, but the lotion seemed to be working wonders on the burns.

He really needed to learn all of the names of his strange guest's; it was hard to keep separating them by hair color.

"Alright folks, probably not the best time to ask, but who the hell are you people."

Seeing the beginnings of a snarl on the largest of the five he brought his hands up in defensive apology. "I don't want histories, I don't want rap sheets all I want to know is what I should call you."

The boy with the charred hands looked up at him calmly and with a nod of his head indicated who was who.

"Batman." Harry backed away a step at the threatening scowl shot his way.

"Nightwing's the one who went out the window. That's Raven, Boromir, Bat, and I'm Crow."

"Great, wonderful, fantastic, I was getting really tired of thinking brunette # 3. Whenever you did anything, takes way too long."

That at least got a pathetic bark of laughter from the teenager although it was forced at best.

Charity Carpenter walked calmly into the destruction, her eyes swept the room until they rested on her mostly unharmed daughter, then moved on to take in the other two groups of men.

Both of her eyebrows went up when she realized that the blonde was clutching what had once been her own husband's sword to his chest and the darker mans shoulder with the other arm.

"Harry Dresden, it would seem that once again you are at the very center of the chaos. Would you mind explaining to me how my daughter got caught up in this mess? Michael seemed to think that I needed to hear it straight from you?"

"Molly decided to ignore a direct order from me in the mistaken belief that I needed her help, and in doing so has broken my trust in her, possibly bringing the Doom of Damocles down on both of us."

Charity's eyes swung immediately to Molly who was desperately trying and failing to blend into the wallpaper.

"Is this true young lady?"

"Mom, I…"

"Is this true!?! Yes or no."

"Yes." The word was sullen and her eyes refused to be pulled from the bloodstain at her feet.

"What were you thinking? Scratch that, you obviously weren't."

"Mom, I have a right to know what's going on."

"Why? Every time you are entrusted with information you abuse it. You don't listen to me. You don't listen to your father. You don't listen to Harry. Tell me is there anyone in this wide world that you believe to be smart enough to tell you things for your own good. Who's orders will you follow, because I will tell you this smart as you may think you are you do not know everything."

"None of you tell me anything I need to listen too."

SMACK!!!

The blow that Charity landed on the side of Molly's head rocked her daughter back on her patent leather heels.

"God help me. You are going to get someone killed."

"She already has."

Charity swiveled her head to look into the darkest eyes that she'd ever seen. The mask only added to the aura of menace that surrounded the large man, but Charity had been dealing with large men all of her life and was distinctly unafraid of this particular specimen.

"What are you talking about?"

"Now wait a minute she got in the monsters way, I would have been just fine." Molly protested. Only to brought up short by the two swordsmen's snarls.

"Batgirl saved your life. You left your back completely unprotected, if she had not jumped between you and the monster it is very likely that you would have died for your hubris. As it is she is gone, you are not, I suggest you make her sacrifice worthwhile."

The dark haired mans silky words, actually brought the defiant Molly back a step. The blondes own words while heavily accented were just as steeped in scorn as his partners.

"A person, man or woman, who causes a death whether accidentally or on purpose should feel regret. Regret at a life lost, potential unfulfilled. Your powers make you more responsible not less for the working of the world around you. They are a gift from our creators passed on to those they believe will cause the most impact."

Molly had a ready response at hand, "God may have given us these gifts but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't use them for our own good"

"Selfishness will lead you down all the wrong roads of life little girl. It seems to have brought you to this juncture, and I do not doubt that your God while believing that you are worth saving is also disappointed in the choices that you have made to find yourself here."

Nightwing stood beside the broken window that he had lunged through forty-five minutes ago. The mask, which covered his eyes, could not cover the tear tracks, which coursed down his face. Deep lines had appeared around his mouth as he hissed his condemnation.

Distraught he might be, but Nightwing was well aware of the dangers of unknown territory, and the thought of being left here because of his absence from the group was an unbearable thought. He had already lost his love; he could not bear to lose his family.

Molly was obviously biting back another nasty retort, but before she could spout another ill-conceived sentence her mother dragged her towards the door.

"Go wait in the car. Your father and I as well as Harry will deal with you tomorrow."

"But…"

"GO!!"

Molly slunk from the room, head down and shrinking away from bits of gore and Marcone's remaining men.

Charity turned and faced Harry, only looking up slightly to stare at his nose pointedly so that she wouldn't fall into a Soulgaze with the exhausted wizard.

"You obviously have more than enough to deal with at this point and time, but I do expect you to come to Sunday dinner."

Turning on her heel, Charity through a final sentence over her shoulder, "Be sure to bring Marcone, we'll need to introduce him to the rest of his family."

Harry tried to bring his gaping jaw under control as Marcone nodded in amused agreement.

Harry turned back to the small group of travelers. "I am very sorry for your loss, but we were all exhausted beforehand no doubt you are more so than ever, I'm afraid I don't have much more to offer you than an extra bedroom."

"Where?" Asked Batman, his gravelly voice losing some of its concealing rasp as exhaustion dragged at his mind. Usually Batman was all for days and nights without sleep, but a week was pushing it even for him.

"Down that hall and to the left." Harry glanced at Marcone for confirmation and when he looked back the hallway was emptied of their presence.

"That must get annoying."

"No doubt." Marcone's smirk was small but the hand that he held out for Harry was instantly and gratefully grabbed.

Once more they headed up the stairs.

"Leave the mess for tomorrow, I pay you to kill things, not clean carpets." Marcone's quiet order had more than one man sighing in relief as they too returned to their rooms for the night. Hopefully this time nothing would interrupt them.

HPBMHPBMHPBMHPBMHPBMHPBMHPBM

When Bruce opened his eyes from his slumber, he felt immeasurably more rested than he had when he had closed them for the final time the night before. The window's curtains could not conceal the waning light that proved they had all slept part of the night and most of the day away.

The king sized bed had fit not only his own large frame but also that of Crow and Nightwing. The two boys were curled into balls on either side of him. Burrowing into the warmth that his cape and body created.

Boromir and Raven had collapsed on the leather couch, which claimed nearly an entire wall of the large bedroom, long limbs entwined around each other, and hands still clutched swords gifted to them by a God that Batman had long ago given up on as a fairytale.

The absence of Batgirl was like an extra hole in his already mangled heart. But if Fate was true to her word than someday Batgirl would return to them. He just hoped that on that day, Nightwing would be able to heal.

His first protégé deserved everything in the world, and once they returned to their own world, Batman intended to make sure that both Nightwing and Dick got exactly what they wanted, whether as a cop for Bludhaven or as his newest reincarnation, Nightwing.

Bruce's eyes softened imperceptibly behind the mask as he listened to Nightwing snuffle sleepily. Staying in the Bat's mindset for days on end was difficult for him, even he knew being broody all of the time (as opposed to the usual 90 percent) was enough to make even Alfred snap at him.

Ever since the group had stepped foot on the island, he had had only moments of brief reprieve from the darkest side of his personality, and he still had to do something about Harry soon.

The small strokes and pats he had held himself to were beginning to wear on him heavily. None of his personalities were particularly patient to begin with. The Bat the most so but that only when it was forced to restrain himself to keep from hurting innocents.

A half-conscious stretch on Harry's part had the teenager flopping more fully onto the stiff Kevlar of Batman's uniform, and although he knew it was purely his own mind, Bruce could swear he felt the warmth of that light arm branded across his chest.

Eyes blinking lazily as he absorbed that warmth into his body, Bruce studied the delicate features of the teen. It had been far too long since he had stared into those green eyes without either plastic or grease paint obstructing his view, too long since he had bitten deep into that leanly muscled shoulder, Bruce wondered if the bruise had healed yet.

Not only did he miss his life as Bruce Wayne, Bruce was almost aching with the desire to return to Gotham to make sure that his city stayed protected. If the criminals found out about his absence there would be hell to pay both then and when he once more returned.

Whatever Fate's plan was, he hoped that soon this ordeal would be over, he also truly deeply wished that he could find a way to take a shower without revealing his identity. The damn suit was going to start melding with his skin if he didn't remove it soon.

Pleasurable thoughts of scorching hot showers with an enticingly coy Harry were interrupted when the sound of a fist rapping wood brought him abruptly from his thoughts and brought him begrudgingly back to the present.

The knock on the door had Bruce retreating once more into the quagmire of his fragmented brain and Batman once more came to the fore. Pushing all thoughts of pleasure aside as he did so, albeit begrudgingly.

A cautious head poked in and met the heavy glare of the Batman's blank mask, Harry Dresden had never been one for tip toeing around anyone but he had a feeling that all of these men were being pushed to the breaking point.

He decided to can his usual steady supply of smart-ass remarks, and wait to use the perfectly funny jokes on somebody with a sense of humor, Queen Mab maybe.

"Supper is ready."

Or at least that's what he meant to say. All that managed to cross his lips was the word supper and suddenly he had the complete and unnerving attention of every creature in the room.

Hell's Bell's even the bat had licked its little lips, from its position sprawled across Raven's chest.

In the light of day, the garish costumes were slightly ridiculous, although Batman _still _managed to find the darkest side of the hall without apparently thinking about it as soon as they slipped down the stairs after Harry, silently padding towards the first food they had, had in almost two days.

The large dining room was filled with a large table, benches allowed more seating room than chairs would have afforded and a number of Marcone's men who were off-duty were stolidly working at emptying an enormous pot of chili before collapsing on the beds that their co-workers had recently emptied.

Entering the room first Harry gestured at the pile of bowls and silverware, glancing around to make sure that his guests would have everything they needed.

Including enough water from the cooler that they would be able to comfortably down the spicy meal Harry nodded a silent farewell and headed out the door once more, thinking longingly of a moments reprieve from any sort of excitement.

Batman, Severus, and Boromir held back as the younger members of their team lunged for the food. Harry and Dick quickly ladled up a bowl of the still steaming chili, throwing thick slabs of cornbread on top of the thick concoction.

Both boys had, had long periods of starvation in their lives; Harry at the hands of his aunt and uncle, Dick during various stints of homelessness that had struck his family before they managed to gain jobs at the circus.

When Severus and Boromir had also taken their share, Batman finally stepped forward, only years of restraint and stoicism kept his hands from shaking as he reached for the food.

Two days was not the longest he had ever been without food, but the battles had drained much of his reserve energy and sleep could only do so much to restore him to top form.

His belly had hurt before, and it no doubt would again but it would never be an experience that he or any of his companions, also accustomed to hunger, would ever enjoy.

By the time the team had eaten enough to staunch the cravings of their stomachs, Marcone's men had long ago headed off to their beds and the sun had set.

Batman had to restrain a smile when he saw the stone-faced Raven slipping Bat chunks of bread dipped in the chili. The magical little creature was using the vestigial fingers on his wings to grip the food and chewing on the spicy treat with apparent relish.

Although 'little' was kind of a misnomer, Bat now probably weighed around ten pounds, and if the way he was eating was any sort of idea Batman had no doubt that soon he would grow even larger if he had a choice in the matter. Truthfully it was probably a miracle of magic that Bat could even fly.

His nonsensical thoughts were interrupted by the steady three-part thump of a man walking towards them with a cane. His turning head caught the attention of the others and the rest of the group put down their spoons and turned to meet whoever was joining them.

The man who entered although leaning heavily on a cane still gave the impression of a steady sort of power, both physical and emotional. Blue eyes scanned the five men stopping only briefly on their masks before dismissing them as either unimportant or more likely, as none of his business.

"I am looking for Harry Dresden, would any of you know where he is?"

Crow studied the man for a moment face blank of any emotion except vague distrust. When he spoke it was not to answer the polite question. "You look like that girl Molly."

The blue eyes stayed steady as the stranger answered the indirect question. "My daughter."

"Ah. He left a little while ago, don't know where he is."

"Michael?"

John Marcone's voice though quiet made the nervous group jump in surprise, none of them had seen the man enter the door behind Michael.

Turning heavily on his cane, Michael reached out his free hand, which was quickly taken up in a brief handshake.

"John, I've come to talk to Harry about Molly."

Marcone's easy greeting of the man was enough for the companions to relax slightly. Which was quickly ended for Snape when Bat lunged out of Severus's arms before the stunned man could move to stop him.

Michael was barely able to brace himself for impact when the dynamo hit his shoulder with a solid thump that made him wince.

His delicate head cocked to the left Bat studied the man he now clung to; his scent was familiar in a way. He smelled somewhat like his Pet and his Pet's mate. Sharp tang of metal, soft _whipcracklesnap _of power, all dusted over with pain. Although this was more of the physical sort than his own Pet's was.

Glancing at his Pet, Bat tried something new, something that had been building in him since his transformation.

_Pet, he smells like you, yes? You heal him. Mend holes with magic liquid._

Severus's eyes widened as the chirpy voice resounded through his head, completely bypassing the thick walls that years of effort and practice had built. Through the other's as well if their facial expressions were any sort of gauge.

The only one's whose faces failed to show any sort of shock were Batman and Michael, even Crow's normally icy expression was lost as he gaped in shock at the still changing little creature.

Snape recovered quickly, although he had to firmly remind himself that acting like a moron would cause nothing but trouble. Crow for one would never let him live it down.

Extending his hand he gestured for the magical creature to return to him. Bat's sudden abandonment had startled and hurt him; he wasn't about to lose one of his few friends to a stranger.

"Perhaps Bat, I would have to study his wounds before I created any sort of potion."

_Pet, will. _Bat said confidently _Bat knows, cause Pet healed Pet's mate. _

Snape's sallow cheeks glowed a dull red as Bat pointed his single digit at Boromir who was watching the whole thing with wondering eyes.

"He's not my mate, Bat."

_Not yet maybe, but soon. _

Launching himself from the unsteady platform of Michael's shoulder, Bat glided back over to Snape where he regained his seat in the man's lap.

Boromir and Snape eyed each other warily before quickly glancing away. They would discuss this later.

Snape hid his flaming face by reaching into one of the innumerable pockets of his robes and pulling out a glass vial filled half-way to the top with a liquid that fizzled and popped threateningly and was a very violent shade of neon yellow.

"Here"

Michael deftly caught the tossed vial with his free hand. His eyebrows climbed steadily for his hairline as he studied the acidic looking potion before glancing at Marcone questioningly.

"Well I'm not going to drink it, but somehow I doubt one of the newest Knights of the Cross would poison a former member."

"Certainly not," sniffed Raven, "it will however heal some of your more troubling injuries although I believe that it has been too long since the initial injury for me to heal you in one go, a sip of that once a day for a week will heal you enough that I believe you will no longer need to use that cane. Anything beyond that is quite out of my reach, I am no true Healer."

Michael stared at the potion for a moment before quickly taking the first dose of the medicine. He would never again be a Knight of the Cross, but God had blessed him with his life after the nearly fatal gunshot wounds.

The potion seemed to churn through his blood like molten lava, waves of pain trailing in its wake. But even as he began to grimace from the pain it left him, and took with it some of the pain he had been forced to accept as a permanent fixture in his body, at least until his death.

Harry Dresden stepped into the room, eyes taking in the blissful smile that had briefly overtaken his long-time friends face. It had been far to long since he had seen Michael stand without pain, and even longer since he had seen him standing so lightly on his feet.

"Michael."

Michael shook himself free of the blissful sensation of painlessness and turned his attention back to the wizard who was watching him with a pleased expression on his face.

"Ah, Harry, yes I was looking for you before…" His eyes turned to Snape's slightly downturned face. "Before this man saw fit to give me a gift I will treasure. I thank you…?"

"Severus." The words were curt, stopping just short of all-out rudeness but a blush once more graced the usually pallid cheeks.

"Thank you Severus, I am in your debt."

His shrug was a clear dismissal, which Michael took in good grace (as always), before anything else could be said a hole once more appeared drawing the motley group of friends towards it.

It seemed that with Severus's final act of kindness they were done here.

Nightwing was the first person through the hole, eager to escape this world of magic, followed by Raven and Boromir.

Crow ushered forward by Batman managed to throw over his shoulder, just before they and the opening disappeared, a final sentence.

"Once we complete what is necessary the swords will be returned to your world. For the moment at least, we are in need of them more than you."

A/N

Well that took me long enough, here take the damn thing I don't want it anymore. I was starting to get cranky as I worked on this same chapter over and over as of this moment I am done with it until I get around to having a beta look it over. Hope it was worth the long wait.

TaTa

Gussiegal5


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I know it's been a while. Sorry, been a _lot _busy. Hope everyone enjoys it. I'm still pretty green at writing NC-17 scenes, and while their not anywhere near as graphic as they could be they might squick some of you, so I have the section marked off clearly. But I've also got some mild man!kissing going on that won't be marked off. So please nobody freak out, you've stuck with me this far and I'd hate to lose anybody because of some content issues.

Chapter 9

When the group fell through the hole in space once again, the entire group was tensed and ready for battle; for nothing it turned out. They had stepped into a quiet field that was empty of any sign of human life. The field extended for only a couple of hundred feet around them before fading into dense woodland.

Batman wasn't sure what he had expected but the quiet serenity of the wilderness wasn't it. A quick glance roved over his family. His heart giving a pang when it came up one short but he forced himself to refocus on the present.

The sun was beginning to set, so they'd need to start a camp quickly, and if his ears weren't deceiving him they'd find a fast flowing stream nearby. Thinking about the possibility of a bath even in cold mountain water made his skin itch even more.

It would do nobody any good to keep going and going without stopping. Their brief respite at Dresden's safe house had at least taken the edge off of their hunger and exhaustion.

But two out of his three main personalities were accustomed to and preferred clean skin. The Bat was less fussy about what he ate and how he smelled. It was probably a good thing that he was outnumbered. Although the sheer force of the persona sometimes overrode the weaker two against their will.

Starting in the direction of the stream, Batman kept a wary eye out for any sort of movement. Being caught off guard because of some minor discomfort was not something that Batman was willing to risk.

"Stream. Sounds close."

If the dark rasp held a small amount of longing in it, none of the other men were willing to comment on it. They had gone for just as long without bathing, and in Boromir's case even longer.

Boromir was a little puzzled by his compatriots desire to bath, getting in icy water mere hours before the sun set seemed an ill-fated plan at best. But he could feel Raven try and stifle his sudden desire to be clean.

Snape's woolen robes were more comfortable than they appeared but that didn't mean that he was willing to wear them for days on end. And while clothing could benefit from a cleaning spell, human skin could not.

Clothing had to be removed to be cleaned in that fashion, so bathing would perform a double duty, and his magic could remove any lingering chill that the water might leave in either himself or in his Lord's teammates.

Bat had already disentangled himself from the cloth he had been clinging to and began to swoop ahead. The large body so ungainly on the ground was still graceful in the air despite its sudden size change.

Snape sincerely hoped that Bat was projecting his thoughts to him alone, because as soon as Bat had heard the word stream a barrage of images, emotions, and words all centered around fish strummed through his brain, leaving him with a mild headache and the unsettling feeling that he now knew exactly what raw fish tasted like without the benefit of rice or soy sauce.

Nightwing's impromptu costume change hadn't removed the steady build up of grime that he had incurred over the course of this journey across worlds, and he didn't have Batman's split personality's to fight with over how he felt about being this dirty.

He hated it. He might primp and preen in front of the mirror at times, but that didn't mean he was afraid to get dirty. But given the choice, an icy bath seemed heavenly compared to the constant itch of dirt and congealing blood.

He still felt as though he was hollow inside, but neither the Grayson's nor Bruce Wayne had raised a man who would willingly give up, no matter the circumstances.

He didn't trust Fate's promise that Batgirl would be back, but oh he yearned for it to be true. But until that day came around he'd have to keep his mind on the world around him and his focus permanently shifted away from his emotions.

Harry was probably the cleanest of the bunch. The dark material he was clothed in seemed to wick away blood and dirt alike. Although they were invisible he could still feel the power of the shadows that were soon going to be around him once the sunset. The emotional backlash of what had happened in the safe house hadn't hit him as hard as it probably should have.

Batgirl had been a member of the family their was no doubt in Harry's mind about that. But just because he cared about her didn't mean that he liked her all that much.

The redhead had been too quick to judge, too sharp-tongued for his taste and close-minded enough that he had worried about her reaction to finding out about how close he and Bruce were becoming.

The gentle roar of the stream was getting louder the closer the grimy group came to it's banks and when they finally found it, the drop off was so sudden that Boromir had to take a quick step back to avoid falling head first into the shallow water.

Bat had wasted no time and was even now disemboweling a small trout with apparent relish. His utter relaxation eased some of the tension that the rest of the group was carrying. The magical creature wasn't infallible but his ears were sharp enough that it was unlikely that even next to the noisy stream anyone could sneak up on them without warning.

Dick shifted uncomfortably as he easily pulled his mask off of his dirty face. He'd had a thought but was unsure about how his mentor would take it or if it was even possible.

"Is there any way to change our costumes into something a little less…conspicuous? We've been lucky enough to end up in places that were willing to overlook how weird we look. But soon enough I think we'll end up in a position where blending in would probably be to our benefit."

When Batman didn't immediately shoot the idea down as a bad one, Dick felt something inside of him internally relax just a little bit. Since this hellish version of a road trip had begun he had noticed Batman allowing him more freedom. Showing trust where previously his overwhelming desire for control had kept Dick from growing as quickly as he would have liked.

"They won't be quite as durable as real clothing but I think between Raven and I," Crow spoke up, "we could give everybody an outfit and a bag that can hold our costumes."

Giving an abrupt nod of approval, Batman let a little bit of Bruce show through when he replied, "Sounds like a plan, feels like the Kevlar is starting to bond to my skin."

The group was too uncomfortable to do more than chuckle briefly before most of them began to pull off the costumes, robes, and tunics that they each wore.

"After." Batman grunted.

Batman slid into the shadow of a tree, willing to wait until everyone else was done bathing before he did so himself. He wouldn't leave them unprotected even if Bat was communicating the all clear.

That could change and he wanted to be ready. But that water looked so clear and refreshing that he had to jerk Bruce Wayne's longing back into a dark corner of his mind. A task that was getting harder and harder to do, since his reserve that allowed him to stay in full Batman mode was being worn down from such constant use, he'd get a bath in a little bit, but until then Batman held sway over the body that the three personalities shared.

The other four men weren't as willing to be patient. Raven and Crow were just as dangerous naked as they were clothed so they skinned their grimy cloths off without a qualm and stepped carefully into the very cold water. Raven a little self-conscious of his skinny frame sat down quickly enough that it felt like his balls were trying to retreat into his body to escape the cold.

Boromir stood on the embankment uncertain about getting into the water. He could see how the water made his friends shiver, could feel an echo of the sudden shock of ice water hitting Severus's overheated skin. The idea that they'd change his tunic into something else by magic was a foreign idea to him but the two wizards of the party seemed to accept that it was easily possible. In a way these easy shows of power were more impressive than Gandalf's most spectacular feats.

Severus turned his head and looked at the blonde man. Bat's words began running through his brain again when Boromir began to pull off his tunic reluctantly. Placing both it and his sword near Snape's neatly piled clothing. The leggings were next, and very quickly Severus was glad of the fact that the water was so cold.

Averting his eyes did nothing to hide the sudden surge of lust that raced through his body. Boromir felt the older man desperately trying to rein the feeling in and smash his libido back into the mental lockbox that it had broken out of.

Stepping into the water with an all-over shiver, Boromir gently pushed his own feelings of affection and trust towards his partner. Loving another man, while rare, didn't have the social stigma in his world that seemed to reside in Snape's so Boromir was more than willing to explore the possibilities that had begun to present themselves when he had felt the first flicker of emotion over the newly formed bond.

Scrubbing his body down with a handful of sand, Boromir jumped back out of the water as soon as he was clean, Snape on his heels. Grabbing up their swords, the two men prepared to slip away from the group. Raven pulled his wand out of a robe pocket unsure of his wandless precision with the delicate process of changing an object into something that it was never meant to be.

A couple of minutes concentration and he had created a couple of plain but serviceable outfits that would allow them to blend in with the muggle world easily.

Boromir watched his partner pull on the jeans, sweatshirt, and boots before attempting to do the same. He had no wish to look the fool because he didn't know how to clasp these new trousers with the strange clasps on the front made of a very sturdy material.

As they stepped away both men gave respectful nods of thanks to Batman for standing guard over them.

Batman was confident enough in their abilities to let them go with only a warning glance before he focused his attention on the surrounding area again, desperately trying to avoid looking at the sleek, naked body of his young soon-to-be lover.

The two men quickly found a clearing, that was close enough that they could hear any yelling but far enough away that they could talk in private without having to worry about too keen ears.

A wave of Snape's wand had their clothing clean and their bodies dry. Another wave locked them in a warm bubble of heated air that would remove any remaining chill from their bones. Once the pair had settled into seated positions across from each other the silence became awkward neither of them sure of what to say.

Minutes passed and the tension steadily rose as the silence dragged on. Boromir finally gave in to an urge that he had had since the day he had met the older man. Leaning forward and not giving Snape any time to react, Boromir cradled the thin face between his two sword hilt hardened hands and kissed him on the lips.

There was no hesitancy on Boromir's part, but Snape's experiences in both sex and affection weren't kind. The only reason anybody had ever slept with him was to complete some of the more powerful warding spells that the then Dark Lord used to protect himself from detection. Needless to say, Snape had not been a willing participant in these Dark spells as only a rape and near exsanguination would do to complete the requirements.

Snape was well aware of what he looked like, so he couldn't understand why anybody would touch him in desire. Even the men who had repeatedly raped him had sneered in disgust at his too thin body and sallow skin. But they were as afraid of Voldemort as he was and unwilling to face his wrath, because as ugly as Snape might have been he more than made up for it, at least in Voldemort's mind, because of his power.

Tensing up at the sudden contact the only reason that Snape didn't pull away was because of the echo of feeling that he was getting from Boromir. The sense of longing and hope that his sudden and embarrassing arousal had kindled in the younger man let him relax into the gentle kiss.

Feeling Snape's fear and echo's of the memories that were haunting him, Boromir leaned backwards, gently tugging Snape with him until the smaller man was sprawled across his broad chest, legs straddling his waist.

The kiss seemed to go on forever but finally Snape had to draw away to gasp some much-needed oxygen. His eyes dark as ever glowed with an internal light and he allowed himself to relax on top of the much larger man using his body as a comfortable, if a little bony, mattress.

Boromir pulled the ebon head down to his shoulder and allowed himself to relax as well. Kissing the top of Snape's head, Boromir whispered fiercely into Snape's ear.

"Everything will work out in its own time love. You'll see."

"And if it doesn't?"

"It will, we'll make sure of it."

When the young men reluctantly pulled themselves out of the water both of them were shivering and bluish but most importantly they were finally clean. Harry didn't even bother waving his hand but suddenly the four costumes that had lain on the bank were replaced by four filled gym bags and a couple of warm looking outfits.

Dick whistled lowly, peeking in at his new costume, he wasn't as surprised as he should have been to see that his costume looked freshly scrubbed and polished. It didn't have a trace of the blood and dirt that had coated it earlier.

Catching a heated glance between the other two, Dick headed off in a different direction from the one that Snape and Boromir had taken. Looked as though his presence would be a hindrance for a little while.

"Dick?"

He smiled at the worried tone, "Don't worry Bruce, I just need to be alone for a while. Give a yell if you need me, I'm going to explore the woods a bit, maybe figure out where the heck we are. Take your bath Bruce, you need it just as much as we did."

The young man turned into a flannel-clad shadow as soon as he passed the tree line. His blue eyes were still a little red from tears but his sight was as sharp as ever and he looked around with frank curiosity. Looking for any sign of human habitation, thus far he hadn't even seen a food wrapper.

Where ever they were. It wasn't home.

A horsefly that was shaped like an actual horse flew by him, giving a high-pitched whinny as it passed him. Dick's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

Definitely not home.

But for every animal that he had only ever heard of from myths and legends there were ten other animals that he spotted that looked exactly like their counterparts in his dimension.

He had been wandering through the woods for nearly a half an hour when a sudden yell brought his head whipping around towards it. The jeans he had on were loose enough that they shouldn't hinder him in a fight, and the belt that held them in place was actually the tool belt from his costume, so he had most of his weaponry with him, even if he was lacking in the whole body armor department.

Running towards where he thought he had heard the sound coming from, Dick wished wistfully that he had time to gather up his compatriots but it sounded as though a full on battle royal was going on nearby and he didn't dare make a noise that might attract the attention of anyone until he figured out what was going on.

Hopefully the yelling would carry far enough that Bat at least would be able to hear what was going on and alert the others.

Skidding to a halt outside of a clearing Dick peeked through the tangled branches of a pine tree, his eyes flat and cold as he caught sight of what the human couple was fighting. Sometimes growing up in Gotham had its advantages. If he had grown up anywhere else doing anything but running the rooftops at night the sight of three gigantic spiders with human heads would have frozen him in fear and shock. As it was they made his top twenty list, barely.

When the female headed spider let loose an acidic looking liquid from her spinneret, Dick broke from his position and silently began to slide so that he was behind all three of the monsters. Listening to the three creatures cruelly taunt the two young people that they were attacking.

"Such a pretty little meal."

"Do be still dear, I promise it won't hurt as much."

"Yes, we'll make it quick for both of you."

If he could hit them just right, and do it quickly they might not be able to eat the young woman and the unconscious man that she stood over protectively. She was trying to fend them off with a bow and arrow that were woefully inadequate at such a close range.

But the distraction might give him enough time to hit them at least two of them with his batarangs. Hitting them on their human necks should be lethal enough.

Letting the first batarang fly as quickly as he could Dick managed to leap gracefully out of the way in time to miss most of the mass of goo that the female had spat at him as she died. But a good chunk of it hit him on his nearly unprotected chest and began to eat through the cloth.

The acidic feeling took him by surprise at first and he couldn't manage to restrain a loud yelp of pain. Cursing himself for not wearing Kevlar, although judging by the acidic webbings speed even that might not have been enough, Dick stripped off his shirts and frantically swiped at his chest with a clean corner of his destroyed shirt.

The curly-haired young woman took advantage of the distraction and quickly let an arrow fly, it hit one of the male monsters directly in the eye and it hit the ground with a heavy thump, writhing briefly before stilling in death.

But the last monster had managed to get closer to the woman, before she could pull out another arrow and a heavy swipe of a leg sent her tumbling backwards, leaving her gasping for breath and the man she had been protecting exposed.

Trying to ignore the growing pain in his chest Dick lunged towards the man and managed to slip between the tall gangly form and the approaching monster. When the monster was close enough, Nightwing gave him a roundhouse kick directly to the side of his head.

The monster was barely rocked and gave Nightwing a vicious smile, with pointed teeth, as he continued to advance.

_Uh-oh._

With the rest of the group gone Batman finally allowed himself to fade back into the dark corners of his mind. Bruce regained control with an all over shiver, and began to immediately pull off the pieces of black Kevlar that made up his costume.

Long years of disrobing quickly let the man sink into the cold water with a quiet sigh after a minute or so. The cold water rushed over skin that had pressed too tightly against Kevlar for too long.

Still suspicious of the quiet surroundings Bruce didn't allow himself to relax for very long, grabbing a handful of sand he started scrubbing his skin until it was clean and tingly.

Eyes that had momentarily closed in pleasure opened again quickly when he realized that he hadn't heard any sound coming from Harry for a couple of minutes. The teenager was mischievous enough that it probably didn't bode well for Bruce if he let his guard down now.

But instead of trying to sneak up on an unsuspecting man, Harry was sitting a couple of feet in front of him wearing a contemplative expression on his face. One of his hands was absent-mindedly rubbing the place where Bruce had bitten him.

The bite had healed completely but Bruce's sharp eyes saw the slight scarring that his vicious bite had left on the pale skin.

Sand slipping unnoticed through his lax fingers, Bruce reached out towards the younger man, who scooted obligingly forward, his fingers slipping through wild black hair, across high cheekbones, and down to his mouth until his thumb slipped over the small lips which pursed against the warm digit.

Dragging his hand reluctantly away from Harry's face, Bruce led him to the bank of the creek and out of the cold water. Settling down on a soft mattress of grass Bruce jerked the much smaller man into his lap.

_**NC-17 CONTENT STARTS!**_

Harry's legs straddled his thighs and his erection was pressing insistently against his lower belly.

Lips tongue and teeth, met in a playful biting fight, tongues wrestling against each other and teeth nipping, and nipping until the kiss was flavored with coppery blood.

Lifting his hips against the inconsequential weight of his small lover, and slipping his right hand in between their torsos, Bruce pulled their cocks together.

Slippery, warm friction had them quickly panting for air, and when Bruce felt the growing tension in his balls and lower back he managed to rip his reluctant mouth away from Harry's and shoved a rough finger in the small mouth of his lover, quickly coating it in saliva and blood. His right hand never ceased it's stroking motion.

Once it was as slick as he thought he could get it without the benefit of lube Bruce pulled the digit back out, hungry mouth returning to the other as though it had never left.

Harry jerked closer to the older man, winding his hands around the muscular shoulders and sliding his legs even farther apart, when he felt the blunt, calloused finger slide down the crack of his ass Harry buried his face in the warmth of the curve of Bruce's neck.

At first the pressure was uncomfortably tight around his finger but once he found the small nodule that was Harry's prostate the muscles loosened immediately, and with a surprised sounding squeal Harry shuddered in orgasm

Bruce couldn't hold back the low chuckle that the sound ripped from him even as his own body tightened and he joined his lover in release.

_**NC-17 CONTENT ENDS!**_

Laying back in relaxed somnolence Bruce regained his breath quickly, even with Harry's weight sprawled across his torso.

Finally when their skin began to stick together Harry dove back into the cool water, Bruce in a rare playful moment hard on his heels. The two wrestled for several moments as they allowed the movement of the stream to clean any evidence of their lovemaking off of their bodies.

Harry splashed some water at Bruce who easily dodged it with a mock growl before tackling the younger man and pulling him beneath the surface of the water.

When they came up for air, panting and laughing both of them froze and went silent at the same time.

Harry looked at Bruce. Something.

Batman scanned the forest with his eyes before looking back at Harry. Where?

Crow jerked his chin in the direction that the shadows told him Dick was. There!

Pulling themselves out of the stream and donning their clothing quickly the pair began to jog quickly in the direction that they had heard Dick's yelp of pain coming from.

The sound had carried farther then they had thought, by the time they had reached the clearing that the sound had originated from the only thing they could see was Nightwing giving a monstrously large human headed spider a roundhouse kick that didn't seem to even faze it.

Nightwing was trying desperately to protect the man that was lying where he had fallen after being knocked unconscious somehow, but Batman wasted no time in launching himself at the creature, keeping clear of its spinneret.

In the brief second that he had used to take in the situation he had seen the nearly dissolved piece of cloth that had been Dick's shirt.

A heavily booted foot hit the back of the monsters skull with the crunching sound that a watermelon makes when it's being ripped open.

The force of the impact not only caved in the creature's skull but with a dull click managed to internally decapitate it.

Using the momentum of his leap, Batman performed a tumbling leap that had him landing solidly on his feet moments after he had launched his attack.

Shaking his head Batman said, "If this is the kind of trouble your going to keep getting yourself into son, I'm not sure how I feel about your decision to move to Bludhaven."

"Aww come on Dad, at least I won't have to deal with any of your usual villain gallery."

"With your luck you'll gain your own."

A/N This newest crossover is with Tamora Pierce's Tortall world. Basically this world is a medieval version of Earth, but its full of magical beasties and gods and goddesses that stick their noses in the mortals business quite a bit. If anybody has any questions about Tortall feel free to shoot me a PM or review and I'll try to get back to you as quickly as I can.


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